Our Wonderland
by KayJDance
Summary: Emma & Jefferson were the most unlikely couple given their past but now after a year of living of their 'happily ever after' no one could imagine it any other way. What challenges will their now royal life bring them? Mad Swan Semi-AU, Post-curse, when everyone is back in FTL. Eventually includes Snowing, Rumbelle, most other canon couples & new characters. Better than description.
1. You Have Never Met The White Rabbit

**A/N: (****Semi-)AU About 2 years post curse-break (1 year spent in SB with magic, the last year spent back in FTL). Regina has been defeated/locked up/killed (whatever you want to believe happened to her). Emma and Jefferson have been married since they got back to FTL and are now living in Snowing's castle, and everyone is enjoying their 'happily ever after's. Also includes mentions of Snowing, Rumbelle, pretty much all other canon couples, and a few other characters of my own that have not been in the show yet.**

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_For this chapter:_

___Let's just pretend for all intents and purposes that The Charmings celebrate Easter and in their world The Easter Bunny is known to also be able to talk. Set the night before Easter. Enjoy! ;D_

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**Chapter 1****: Clearly You Have Never Met The White Rabbit**

"See, I told you so!" Henry exclaimed as he held up his storybook up to his mother pointing to a poorly drawn illustration of Rumplestiltskin waving a wand in front Ella, marveling at himself for his amazing memory of the stories in his book.

"Okay fine, I believe you now." Emma declared rolling her eyes and sitting back on the couch.

"No you don't. And besides, you can't even see the picture from that far away." Henry argued, setting his book on the coffee table in front of him and sitting back on his hands as he rested them at his sides.

"Okay, okay. I'll come over there kid, if I must." Emma sighed as she pushed herself off the couch and made her way over to the coffee table. Slowly bringing herself to her knees she smoothed out the fabric of her elegant, white semi-ball gown that made it look as though her legs disappeared when she sat on the floor.

Henry leaned into the coffee table and once again pointed to the image before them and questioned, "Do you see it now?"

Emma leaned towards the book then slowly got closer and closer, squinting her eyes as she inched her way towards the page getting unnecessarily close. Once her nose was within a centimeter of the picture and her eyes almost closed she sat back up abruptly and shook her head at Henry, "Nah, I still think you're making it up."

"Oh shush, I know you can see it now!" Henry said as he playfully pushed his mother away.

Emma simply smiled back at her son and laughed as she caught herself on her hand and pushed herself back to an upright position. Suddenly, a small laugh came from the doorway causing Emma to jump.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Snow apologized as she let out another small laugh and stepped further into the living room.

"Hey, don't laugh at my jumpiness!" Emma cried as she looked back to her mother coming into the room and her father trailing in behind her as he quickened his pace to join his wife and take her hand.

Snow smiled back at her husband and led him further into the room. Looking back to her family on the floor she teased, "Well what fun would that be?"

Emma rolled her eyes to look at her mother, giving her an un-amused smirk as Henry and James choked back a laugh causing Emma to shoot each of them a stern look. "What? Is everyone just laughing at my skittishness today?" she cried.

This remark caused all of them to start laughing but seeing the obvious annoyance in Emma's eyes Snow apologized as she laid a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "No, of course not sweetie. We just love seeing you frustrated. I have to say, you make it a bit too easy."

Emma merely rolled her eyes yet again as James changed the subject, "So Henry are you excited for The Easter Bunny to come tonight and leave eggs around the castle?"

Henry laughed and said, "Don't you think I'm a bit old to believe in The Easter Bunny Pops?"

Emma, Snow, and James all gave each other confused looks before Emma finally asked what they were all thinking, "You mean to tell me that the kid who believed he lived in a town full of fairy tale royalty, magical imps, and numerous other impossible things doesn't believe in The Easter Bunny?"

"Hey! In my defense, there was solid evidence that everything my story book said was true but I have yet to see any solid proof of a talking rabbit that runs around wearing clothes and just casually stopping by people's houses and hiding eggs filled with candy." Henry said shocked that the rest of his family was so shocked.

"Clearly, you have never met The White Rabbit." Grace remarked as she leaned against the doorway causing her family to whip their heads in her direction.

"Granted, he doesn't leave candy eggs around the house but he does talk and wears a rather extravagant waistcoat," she explained smiling a sly yet adorable smile as she made her way into the living room seating herself in between her step-mom and step-brother who smiled brightly back at her.

"Hi mom," Grace said still smiling as she turned herself to face Emma.

Emma quickly pulled Grace into a tight hug as the tingling sensation she'd come to associate with love bubbled up inside of her at the fact that Grace had called her 'mom' and grinning like a fool she replied, "Why hello Grace!"

Both of her children had been calling her 'mom' for some time now but after two years from Henry and one from Grace she still could not find herself used to the sound of being addressed with that title much like her unfamiliarity with the title of 'Princess'. Jefferson had lovingly called her that for as long as she could remember but he said it out of teasing whereas everyone else was far too serious with the title for her liking. He was the only one she enjoyed calling her 'Princess'. Though she was not used to either title she was not lacking in any motherly or royal instincts and would do absolutely anything for her children who meant the universe to her and also helped run her parent's kingdom with ease as a natural leader.

"Wait a second," Henry gasped ruining the moment between Emma and Grace, "you've met The White Rabbit? As in, _The_ White Rabbit? The White Rabbit from Alice In Wonderland?"

Grace made a subtle flinch at hearing her mother's name associated with the land where her father had been trapped for so long as Emma gave her one last squeeze before pulling away. Grace then slightly turned, looking back over her shoulder to give her brother a smug grin. Grace knows about the many versions of her mother and father that have been depicted in movies and books from Earth but they were far from the real thing so she didn't mind much when people mentioned it. It just always made her long to have known her mother whenever people spoke of her (no matter a made-up version or not). But she pushed that thought aside quickly as she remembered how thankful she should be for the big family she now has and replied to her brother, "Maybe… Why? Are you jealous?" and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"Oh stop, just tell me!" Henry demanded.

"Geez Louis, calm down. I'll tell you." Grace said giving in as she rolled her eyes at his overwhelming eagerness to hear her story.

Emma took this moment to glance away from her two little nuggets to look back over her own shoulder, eyes searching for the one member of her family who was still missing. She continued staring at the doorway while Grace spun her tale about the time The White Rabbit came through The Rabbit Hole to The Enchanted Forest to see her papa once when she was younger and Henry sat with his jaw stuck open and eyes wide. As a few minutes passed Emma was growing with worry because Jefferson was almost always following within a few feet of his daughter. She knew the worry was likely unnecessary but she hadn't seen him since he left in the morning on his day-long shopping trip in the village with Grace and couldn't help it from slowly creeping over her. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting (though it was really only three minutes) Jefferson appeared in the doorway and Emma let out a large sigh of relief.

Emma's sigh caused Snow and James to glance over from their two grandchildren to their daughter. They watched as Emma shifted to her side, still staring at her husband, coming towards her with an infectious smile, as she propped her one hand on the floor to stand to her feet. Noticing the loving look in Emma's eyes as she gazed at her husband, Snow smiled back at her own husband and leaned into him as he wrapped his arms around her waist smiling in return, needing no words to express what they knew each other was thinking. It was obvious how utterly in love their daughter was and it warmed their hearts seeing her beaming with such happiness.

Jefferson made his way to Emma before she got the chance to cross a foot in front of her and he reached down to grab her free hand and in one quick motion pulled to her feet and into his embrace. His eyes glazed over her royal white dress that consisted of a slightly embellished bodice wrapped tightly around her perfect figure and small sea of tulle that puffed out just above her waist and reached down to graze the floor. Her beautiful, blonde princess curls hung freely over her shoulders and back. After taking in her beauty in its entirety his eyes eventually met hers, he smiled at her as he tucked a strand of her golden locks behind her ear and quietly exclaimed, "You look stunning."

She tugged at the collar of his overcoat, pulling him down for a quick kiss then pulled away, gazing at him, and replied in a whisper, "Thank you." They stood with their foreheads pressed together for a moment longer before Henry's excited voice pulled her attention to her two children still sitting at the table.

"Mom, did you hear what Grace said?" he shouted and without giving her a chance to answer he continued, "The White Rabbit sounds so cool! I want to meet him too someday!"

Before she was able to turn on her heel Jefferson spun her around to face their children but held her tightly around her waist against his body. If Jefferson had his way, she would never have to move for herself but Emma had been independent for too long and would protest to his constant maneuvering of her own body. Her stubbornness made him enjoy these moments when he was able to catch her by surprise like this so he made one of his smirks and before she got the chance to respond to Henry he leaned into her ear and whispered just loud enough for her to hear, "You're welcome." Then he leaned in just a bit further to plant a quick, gentle kiss on her cheek filling it with warmth as she responded.

"Hey you never know kid, maybe you will." Emma smiled at her son then back at her husband.

From the door someone cleared their throat causing the whole "Charming Family" to turn their attention to the dwarf poking his head in the doorway.

"Pardon the interruption your majesties but your guests have arrived and dinner is ready." Dopey smiled then quickly scurried away.

"Well then, off to dinner we go!" Snow exclaimed to her family gesturing towards the door.

Grace and Henry quickly pulled themselves to their feet and went off running ahead of their parents spurting out excited shouts about dinner and their eagerness to greet their guests.

James took Snow's hand in his own, intertwining their fingers and led her out of the living room into the hallway. Emma stared ahead at her parents then looking back at Jefferson she turned on her heel and in an instant she yanked the scarf around his neck tighter, pressing herself against him leaving no space between the two, and teased, "You know, you don't look so bad yourself."

Jerking back ever so slightly at her force he smirked back at her then crushed his lips against hers causing her to smile back at him, satisfied with her teasing. He pressed closer to deepen the kiss but she pulled back quickly, leaving Jefferson confused and surprised, then lacing her fingers through his and pulling him out the room she gave a teasing apology, "Sorry lover boy but we've got a dinner to get to." He put on a frown as a fake pout but then smiled as her followed her out the door. He would follow her anywhere.

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_This is my first fic ever so please be brutal if you review. I am looking for constructive criticism because I really want to get better. I'm sorry this ended up horribly long (I honestly meant for it to be rather short) but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, and want more because I have A TON planned out for this if enough people are interested! =]]_


	2. Alex Is Running Our Dinner Tonight

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

___I am so sorry it took me much longer than expected to update this but I hope you all are still interested in it. Here's another (rather long) chapter for you lovely Mad Swan shippers so, **ENJOY! =D**_

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**Chapter 2****: Looks Like Alex Is Running Our Dinner Tonight**

"Ella!" Grace shouted to the older woman, running to her and squeezing her in a tight embrace.

"Why hello Grace, it is so lovely to see you." Ella smiled as she squeezed the young girl with her one free arm. The other preoccupied by her young daughter clasping onto her hand.

Grace unattached herself from the young princess and turned her attention to Alexandra, stuck in between her parents, who now stood gazing up at the older girl with a questioning look. If you looked merely at her chubby cheeks and short, thin hair you would think she was just like any other toddler but as she stood in her light blue, silk gown with puff sleeves and tulle that draped down from the tops of her ribs to just above her ankles revealing her white dress shoes and socks with lace ruffles at the tops and wavy hair neatly combed down her shoulder and the front strands pulled into a French braid she looked like royalty even at such a young age.

"Hi Alex, do you remember me?..." Grace questioned as the toddler still stood in her place staring at the older girl, who now knelt in front of her down at her level, "…well even if you don't, my name is Grace!" Grace smiled. As recognition flicked across Alexandra's face, she shouted out the best pronunciation of 'Grace' a 2-year old could manage and let go of her parents' hands to embrace Grace in a hug, nearly jumping on her. Grace, now beaming, hugged the young girl as she heard her brother come running up the hallway into the foyer.

"Thomas!" he cried and embraced Prince Thomas.

"Good to see you Henry." Thomas laughed as he gave the young boy a good squeeze and tousled his hair.

Grace stood from her hug with Alexandra and still holding onto the toddler's hand greeted Thomas with a smile and hug, "Hi Thomas."

"Good to see you as well Grace." He laughed as he looked down to see his daughter, obviously wanting to get in on the love-fest, had wrapped herself around his leg and said, "Hi Daddy!"

Alexandra's typical, adorable 2-year old behavior caused them all to start laughing though Alex simply look confused and continued hugging her father's leg. Grace and Henry let go and Henry went to greet Ella as the eldest members of their family walked in.

"Welcome Ella!" Snow exclaimed as she walked in and hugged her dear friend just as Henry pulled away.

"It is wonderful to see you Snow!" Ella replied hugging her back with a grin spread across her face as Alexandra ran away from her father's leg and attempted to hug Snow's leg through the small sea of tulle that filled the bottom of Snow's dress and cried out, "Snow!" This caused the two women to giggle as Snow let go of her friend and bent down to Alexandra giving her a proper hug.

"Thomas!" James greeted as he gave his old friend a brotherly hug and pat on the back, "How are you?"

"Absolutely wonderful my friend," Thomas replied with a smile.

Snow picked Alex up and shifted her to balance on her hip as she went to greet Thomas when James let his friend go and moved to Ella to greet her.

The last two members of the party finally reached the foyer, walking in with their fingers intertwined and sides pressed up against one another. Jefferson and Emma not having the long history Snow and James had with Thomas or quite as strong of a bond as their children had formed with him, gave a more formal greeting as they walked towards Thomas who reached out and shook both of their hands smiling, "Wonderful to see you Jefferson and Emma."

"Great to see you as well." They replied in unison causing them to give each other a humorous look and hold back a laugh.

Emma had known Ella quite a bit better due to their encounters in Storybrooke and their friendship had continued to grow since they arrived back in The Enchanted Forest so Emma reluctantly let Jefferson's hand and warmth of his body at her side go as she rushed to hug one of her first and best friends, greeting her with a warm smile, "Ella, welcome!"

"Thank you Emma. We are very excited to be here." Ella exclaimed as she hugged her friend back.

Emma took a step back and allowed her husband to come back to her side and claim her hand once again while reaching the other out to shake Ella's with a warm smile and greeting to accompany it.

At this point all greetings had been given and Alex ended up in James' arms but now reached for her father. James handed Alex over to Thomas as Snow gestured towards the hallway leading to the dining room. She led the party through the hallway, past the grand ballroom, and into the dining room. They all made their way into their respective seats, Alex in a wooden highchair on the far end, Ella and Thomas placed on each side of her, James, Snow, and Henry finishing off Thomas's side and Emma, Jefferson, and Grace finishing off Ella's.

Just as they all finished placing their napkins over their laps and the salad and bread was placed on the table by a kitchen staff member Henry glanced over to Alex at the end of the table picking apart her slice of bread and spreading it on the tray attached to her high-chair and let out a small laugh, "It almost looks like Alex is running our dinner tonight."

This remark caused the entire table to let out a few small laughs but Grace, finding it the most hilarious, declared, "Well if she's running dinner then we must follow as she does."

This caused the laughter to come to a halt as the rest of the table looked towards her with questioning looks, wondering where she was going with this.

"We must pick apart our bread, wear our napkins around our necks, and not use utensils." Grace declared fervently as she looped her napkin around her neck and picked her utensils up and slapped them down on the table about a foot away from her with a clank.

"I think that sounds like a great idea!" Henry exclaimed with a grin whilst picking up his napkin.

"I'm in!" James declared as he went to pick up his napkin causing Snow to roll her eyes and playfully slap his hands back down as she replied, "Oh well that's Charming."

Ella, Thomas, and Emma stifled a laugh at their end of the table as Alex let out a shriek of delight and Jefferson turned to his children to reprimand them.

"Very funny you two. Now Grace, Henry, you know better than that." He sternly told them giving them a scornful look.

Both children looked down at their plates and back up at their father with "puppy dog eyes", nearly making Jefferson cave in. Nearly.

"Now please behave, or no dessert." He choked out as Emma gave the hand she clung onto a reassuring squeeze, knowing how hard it was for him to look at his kids' sweet eyes and threaten them. They were normally wonderful, well-behaved kids so he wanted to let them have fun but her knew now, with guests over, was not the time for it.

"Sorry" The two kids replied pitifully as they began to untie the napkins around their necks.

Dinner continued as normal with occasional small talk, compliments on the dinner, small shrieks, squeals, and giggles from Alexandra, and updates on the status of other royal families and their kingdoms until dessert when Henry blurted out, directing his attention towards his parents, "So Grace and I were thinking that maybe we could take a trip to Wonderland…?"

In utter disbelief and shock Emma audibly and visibly choked on the cake she had been swallowing causing Jefferson to turn to her, pressing one hand on her arm and the other on her back, before he got the chance to respond. Snow and James simply snapped their heads in their grandson's direction with wide eyes, dropped jaws, and frozen hands that held the food they were just about to place in their mouths. Ella and Thomas merely glanced at one another, unsure of what to say or do, as Alex happily kept shoving globs of chocolate cake in her mouth. Grace looked towards her parents with worried eyes that her plan may not have been all that great of one.

"Emma, are you alright?" Jefferson asked worried as he soothingly rubbed her back with one hand.

Emma managed to swallow the stuck cake and choked out, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Then regaining her composure and remembering why she choked in the first place she turned towards her son and shouted, "What?"

Henry, ready to defend himself, replied, "I know, I know. It sounds kinda crazy. But Grace and I were just thinking-"

"Because you and Grace are just _full _of good ideas tonight." Emma interjected, rolling her eyes.

"Look mom, what Grace was saying earlier about The White Rabbit sounded so cool and it made me really want to meet him! She said it was really unlikely that he'll ever come back here so we should just go to him." Henry defended. "It's not really a dangerous place persay… Besides, you said yourself that I'm a smart kid and I wouldn't even ask you if I hadn't thought it through so please just give this idea a chance. Trust me."

Emma grunted to herself and pinched the bridge of her nose not knowing how to respond to her son's logic. Damn. Why did she have to give birth to such a smart and convincing kid?

Jefferson finally gathered up a few words after a minute of shock and replied for his currently-distraught wife, "Look Henry, this is not the time or the place to discuss this. I understand your curiosity but you know my history there and it's not exactly a place I'd prefer to re-visit."

It wasn't like Jefferson didn't still use his hat, it often came in handy when someone was in need of something from another realm or for quicker communication across them, but he hadn't been to Wonderland since he had been trapped there and did not have any desire to go back. It only reminded him of his terrible time spent there and all his trips there before his entrapment, and how the mere thought of that place nearly drove him mad.

"I know and I understand that. I just think—"

Finally finding a few sensible words once again Emma countered, "Okay Henry, you're right. You are a smart kid and I will _always_ trust you but there's so much to this and it's not something we can simply just decide on right now. We're at dinner, we have guests." She finished, gesturing towards the end of the table where Thomas, Ella, and Alex sat.

"Oh don't mind us." Thomas said in response. "It's actually, rather entertaining."

"Thomas!" Ella snapped, causing Thomas to hang his head with a fake 'I'm guilty and I'm sorry' look on his face.

"So does that mean, you'll think about it?" Henry questioned excitedly.

"Yeah, sure kid. We'll _think_ about it." Emma said giving in.

Jefferson shot her a look wondering why she decided this without even asking him but he decided to let it go because he didn't want to get into it right now.

Henry and Grace hurriedly shoved the last bits of cake in their mouths then excitedly ran over to their parents, giving them both hugs and simultaneous 'thank you's, with their mouths still full of food, ran off to their rooms, likely going to scheme up more on their plan, and wished everyone a 'goodnight'.

Emma in defeat and frustration plopped her elbows onto the table and dug her head into her hands and grunted in frustration. As Emma mumbled to herself, obviously having an internal battle, Jefferson stood up and started to pick up a few of the dishes. Once he gathered up enough dishes to fill his arms he leaned down towards his frustrated, still-mumbling wife, gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and teased, "See you later princess," as he walked out of the dining room and into the kitchen.

Emma didn't even flinch but only kept quietly speaking nonsense to herself as Snow, James, and Thomas followed suit and picked up the rest of the dishes. Granted they were all royals and had plenty of servants to clean their dishes but after living for so long without anyone waiting upon them they felt almost cruel going back to a life where they made people do such simple tasks for them.

Ella picked Alex up out of her high-chair and apologized, "I'm sorry. I would help but I need to put Alex to bed."

"Oh it's no trouble. We have got everything here. You have a goodnight Ella dear." Snow replied.

"Thank you Snow. Have a good night everyone" she smiled as a tired Alex settled her face in the crook of her mother's neck.

"Goodnight sweetheart," Thomas wished his wife lovingly, giving her a quick kiss, then ran a hand over Alex's back as he kissed the top of her head and wished her a restful sleep.

Snow turned towards her daughter before walking out and soothed, "Emma please do not trouble yourself over this too much. You know, you are his mother. You can always say no."

This caused Emma to let out a large grunt of frustration. She hated saying 'no' to Henry no matter how silly or crazy his ideas might be. She missed out on too much of his life already and wanted to give him anything he wanted for the rest of it but at this point she felt like 'no' was the only option. Finally giving up on her internal struggle, Emma looked up from where her head rested in her palms and finally noticed that she now alone at an empty table. After deducting that everyone had probably gone to the kitchen to clean up, she made her way through the hallways that lead to the grandiose kitchen and found her mother and father sitting on a workbench, each sipping out of their cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon.

"Hey Emma, are you doing any better?" her mother greeted.

"Eh, I guess I'm fine. I don't really want to think about it right now." she replied. "Have you seen Jefferson?"

"No, sorry dear. We haven't seen him since he left after helping clean up the dishes." Her father answered.

"Oh okay," she replied as her mind trailed off, wondering where he could be. "I'm gonna go find him, goodnight guys."

He was the only person she could never use her tracking skills to find and it was a rare moment when he wasn't by her side so on the off-occasion that he did disappear it wasn't unlikely for her to freak-out and worry incessantly.

"Goodnight sweetheart." James said as he stood up and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Sleep tight, honey." Snow added giving her daughter a quick, one-armed hug.

Emma walked out of the kitchen, lost in her own thought and unsure of where to go. She checked their bedroom, six of the ten living rooms, Henry and Grace's rooms, three playrooms, and the two grand ballrooms before it finally dawned on her where he was. He hardly ever went there, it was almost always her who was the one to run away to it, but she remembered the trouble from earlier and knew he likely wanted to go there to think.

She walked out the side doors of the castle quietly so no one would hear, for her parents would likely have her locked in a tower before they let her go out alone in the middle of the night. She let her feet guide her through the massive trees and seas of moss, not even needing to think about where she was heading, she never did. She could somehow find 'their place' whenever she wanted, no matter where she was coming from or what time of day. She had been there hundreds of times since the first day they found it back in their first week spent home in The Enchanted Forest and just guessed that at this point, she had been there so often she was drawn to it.

Sure enough, after twenty minutes of walking, she stepped into the clearing of the dense forest and there he was sitting on a log, facing away from her, that stood on the few feet of ground between the meadow of purple wildflowers and the small pond that reflected the light of the moon and cast a light glow on their little escape from the world.

Without turning around Jefferson quipped, "Took you long enough."

"Funny." She replied, walking towards him with a smirk. She sat down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tired?" he asked, still staring ahead of him.

"A bit… Internal conflict can be kind of tiring." She said turning to look up at him. "Look Jefferson, I know what happened in Wonderland but Henry can't help his curiosity. I know he didn't want to hurt you by mentioning it."

"I know, I know. Henry is curious, he can't help it and I don't blame him. Grace has actually brought it up before so it doesn't surprise me that she got him in on her plan." He sighed.

"We've got quite the little masterminds don't we?" She laughed.

"Oh yes we do." He agreed finally turning to look at her. "Boy are we in for it once their teenagers!"

"God, teenagers…" Emma says looking off into space, pondering the thought. "Boy do I feel old!"

Jefferson shot her a look that was a mix of heartbreak, remorse, and longing.

"Sorry." She apologized making a frown and leaning into him to give him a quick kiss. "Anyways, what are we going to tell our two partners in crime?"

"Don't bother yourself with that now. Tomorrow is Easter so let's just get through it then we can talk. Please, I want you to enjoy it. It's our first Easter back here and I don't want you worrying. I don't want you _ever_ worrying, about anything." He replied not giving her the answer she wanted.

Wanting to get this matter over with Emma started, "Jefferson, why can't we—"

"Sssshhh." he quieted her, putting a finger to her lips and leaning forward, eliminating any space their bodies had between them.

She couldn't help but shut up and freeze in her spot. She didn't know how he did it but he had some sort of effect on her and often she couldn't find her right mind when they spoke. She could taste his breath on her lips as his face was within an inch of hers then he leaned in to kiss her passionately. She sunk into him giving in and reached her arms up around his neck as his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

They pulled apart to take a breath and Jefferson heavily breathed out, "I think we should get home. Your parents are likely going to notice when they walk by our room, like they do every night, and notice neither of us are there and send out a search party."

"It's fine. They know whenever we're both missing that we're here and that we're safe." Emma replied not wanting to move away from this perfect spot with her husband.

"Yes, that's true but honestly I still wouldn't put it past them to send out the search party, unless you told them you would be out…?" He questioned.

"No." Emma sighed and looked down, burying her head into his chest as her arms still clasped around his neck. "I guess we have to go..."

She sat for another minute simply enjoying being in his arms until he broke the silence, "You know, we can't leave unless you let me go."

Emma shot him a worried glance and looked him in the eye, "I am _never_ letting you go,"

Jefferson let a small laugh and that haunting smile of his that never ceased to cause Emma to melt, pulled at the corners of his mouth as he replied, "I know, and I am _never _letting you go either princess but can I at least get up?"

"If you must," she sighed, letting her arms drop from their place around his neck as he stood to his feet, "but I still don't want to leave."

"But my princess, we must get you back to your quarters." He quipped giving a slight bow and extending one hand out to help her to her feet.

Taking his hand she stood up and teased, "Oh Prince Jefferson, how kind of you."

"My pleasure your majesty. But I am merely a royal by marriage whereas you, my dear, you were _born_ a princess." He said pulling her up to him weaving his fingers through hers.

"I love you." She replied, gazing up at him.

He pulled her to him by her waist planting a kiss on her lips and smiled against them, "And I love you too, princess."

* * *

_As I said, I am terribly sorry it took so long to update this, I honestly thought it would only take 2 days but then I got a bit of writer's block and gave up for a day or so and didn't finish till today. But again, I hope you liked it and thank you so so so so sooooooo very much to those of you that have read and even more to those of you who have reviewed! Your kind words mean the world to me and have made me even more excited to continue this! =D Next chapter, is some adorableness on Easter morning so get excited! ;D _


	3. I Am Simply Making Up For Lost Time

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_I terribly sorry it took me so horribly long to update this but I hope you all are still interested in it and continue to read and review. Here's yet another (long) chapter for you wonderful Mad Swan shippers so, __**ENJOY! =D**_

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**Chapter 3****: I Am Simply Making Up For Lost Time**

"Mom! Papa!" Grace cried as she shook the bed her parents were just a moment ago, sleeping peacefully in. "Come on! Wake. Up." She shouted giving their comforter two quick tugs.

In an attempt to stay in bed for just a little longer and get his daughter to stop trying to wake them, Jefferson pulled Emma right up against him with the one arm he had wrapped around her torso and used the other to pull the covers up over their faces. Emma merely tried to shut her eyes tighter hoping that would somehow make her magically fall back asleep.

"Come on you guys. Please!" Grace pouted, in a much softer voice, holding the sound of the 'e' making her sound even more desperate.

Jefferson knew at that point, even though he could not see her, that she was making her perfect "puppy dog eyes" and he could not resist the urge to do whatever his daughter commanded, he only ever wants her to be happy.

He breathed out a heavy sigh as Emma glanced up at him from under tired eyelids and muttered, "Well, apparently it's time to wake up."

Jefferson flashed a quick smile before giving her a light kiss and whispering to her, "Good morning," then pulling himself out from under the covers and sitting back up against the pillows, leaning against the wooden headboard. As he did Emma yanked the covers back over her face, rolling to face the opposite direction of her husband and daughter.

"Papa, you have to see all the eggs. They are all over the castle halls and Henry said he even spotted some in the garden." Grace exclaimed, grabbing her father hands with a bright smile on her face and almost bouncing with excitement.

"Well that is wonderful my dear Grace. Now why don't you go help Henry scope out some more. You can put that nose of yours to good use." He replied lovingly as he cupped her cheek with one hand and bopped her on the nose with his thumb causing her to giggle.

"But Papa, you _both_ need to wake up so we can have our Easter egg hunt. We don't want to do it without you." She replied as her excitement dwindled and her voice almost came back to a pout.

"Don't you worry, I will get Emma to wake up and we will be down in no more than twenty minutes." He assured her.

"Do you promise Papa?" Grace said with the bright smile returning to her face.

"Promise! Now you go search for those eggs with Henry." He soothed as he took her face in both his hands and pulled her to him to kiss her forehead right before she ran out the door and down the hall to catch up with her step-brother.

Jefferson now turned his attention towards his wife who obviously wanted to continue sleeping but he didn't want to break his promise to Grace so and leaned down to her and whispered to her, "I thought you were the one who said it was time to wake up."

"That was just so I could take more of the comforter for myself," She retorted, her voice muffled from being under the covers as she refused to move from her position with only the back of her head and one ear peering out of the comforter.

In one quick motion Jefferson was able to pull the entire comforter off the bed leaving nothing around Emma and causing her to spring from her curled up position and shout, "Jefferson! What the..." Letting out a large groan she pushed him off the bed but he was quick and with little effort gathered his feet under himself to stand up before he had the chance to fall to the ground. He stood on the floor at the far-end of their and replied, "I am very sorry but we must be off to the egg hunt princess." He now held the sheets in the air as high as he could with one hand and gestured towards the door with other hand, giving a slight bow.

"Very funny!" Emma scoffed at him as she swung her legs off the bed and started marching around to the other side. "That's not going to work!" she stated as she reached up to grab the sheets out of his hands with one hand, the other planted firmly on her hip, then yanked them down to her hang by her waist.

"Ah, but it got you out of bed, didn't it?" Jefferson teased with a smirk as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her body against his.

Emma resisted, not giving up on this just yet, although she knew she was bound to lose. She made a sharp turn around to face their bed, giving a groan of frustration, but just as she put one leg on the bed to crawl back into it Jefferson took her by the waist with both hands now and whipped her to him, pulling her close and crashing his lips to hers.

Surprised but not completely shocked Emma gave in and chose not to fight anymore as she let the sheets slip from her hand to slowly tumble to the ground as she deepened the kiss, leaning up into him. Just as she clasped her arms around his neck he pulled back and with smug grin said, "Good morning."

"Oh you think you're just _so_ clever, don't you?" Emma said with a teasing grin.

"Aren't I?" he stated matter-of-factly, despite the fact that it was a question as he gave her one last, quick kiss. "Now princess, we must get to the egg hunt," he teased as he pulled her over to her dresser, dragging her behind him. She slipped into a pair of tight, tan riding pants (because that was unfortunately as close as they got to jeans in The Enchanted Forest) and a loose, almost-sheer light blue half sleeve shirt as Jefferson put on his black leather pants and white, long-sleeved, puffy undershirt with a gray leather vest on top.

They walked through the many halls and down many staircases then made their way into the kitchen. Jefferson prepared tea for himself and coffee for his wife as she sat leaning on her elbows with her back against the counter, watching him as he got their typical morning drinks. The majority of their staff was given the holiday off so it was rather odd being in their without the normal crazy amounts of workers running every which way and shouts spreading across the expansive kitchen.

"Your coffee princess," Jefferson said, handing her a mug of coffee.

"Why thank you," she replied with a roll of her eyes.

Jefferson had strategically placed his teacup behind her so as he went to reach for it he didn't bother to walk around her; instead he leaned into her as he reached for it. "How's your coffee?" he inquired with a devilish grin, taking a sip of his tea.

"Mmmm, perfect." She mused as she took a sip of it, slowly closing her eyes and leaning up to kiss him. Jefferson in return, snaked his free arm around her waist to pull her closer to him, leaning down towards her.

"Emma!" Alex squealed running in from the doorway causing Emma and Jefferson to quickly pull apart with embarrassed looks on their faces. Emma took a moment to compose herself before realizing the little girl who had just run in was at her leg reaching up for her so she knelt to the ground to scoop up Alex in her arms and settle her onto her waist as Alex wrapped her little arms around Emma's neck, giving her a tight squeeze.

"Good morning Alex." Emma laughed as the little girl started to pull back, now resting her hands on Emma's shoulder.

"It's Easter!" Alex exclaimed to Emma with as large of a grin a two-year could muster up.

"Why yes it is." Emma replied with a warm smile and bopping the two-year old on her nose with a light tap of her finger. "Have you seen you the eggs all around the castle?"

"Yessie, yes, yes!" she squealed almost jumping up and down in Emma's arms.

Jefferson merely stood leaning against the counter across from his wife, sipping at his tea and admiring how she interacted with Alex. It amazed him how wonderful she was with children. She had only technically been a mother for a little over two years now but it was as though she had raised Henry his entire life. Everything she did when it came to parenting both Henry and Grace seemed so natural and it showed whenever she interacted with any children whether it was her own or family friends'.

"Jeffie see Easter eggs?" Alex questioned as she looked over her shoulder to Jefferson.

"Of course I have Alex." Jefferson smiled as he took a step closer to Emma and Alex. "But the better question is, are you ready beat the older kids in the Easter egg hunt?" he asked leaning towards her and tickling her stomach.

She squealed and giggled with delight as she responded, "Yes Jeffie!" causing Emma and Jefferson to let out a laugh at her adorable reaction.

"I'm so sorry. I hope she didn't bother you two." Ella apologized coming to stop at the doorway to the kitchen.

"Mama!" Alex yelled with a smile, turning towards her mother.

"Don't worry," Emma laughed. "Alex is never a bother."

"Never." Jefferson added, smiling at Alex.

"Well I'm glad," Ella laughed, walking into the kitchen. "Alex told me she was running off to the kitchen but she apparently knows this castle better than I do and can also run faster."

"Mommy, Jeffie and Emma saw eggs!" Alex exclaimed to her mother.

"I'm sure they did sweetie," Ella laughed at her daughter's fascination in the obvious.

"We get eggs now Mama?" Alex questioned as she reached her arms out for her mother.

"Well I don't know Alex, it all depends if Jefferson and Emma are ready," Ella laughed, taking her daughter from Emma's arms, "because Henry and Grace absolutely _refuse_ to start without them."

"Well if Emma has 'officially' woken up then I say we are absolutely ready." Jefferson laughed, taking his attention away from Alex to look over at his wife.

"Off to the egg hunt we go." Emma laughed as she looped one arm through her husband's and walked out of the kitchen with him at her side and Ella and a squealing Alex just ahead of them.

As they reached the foyer, they were greeted by the sight of a large crowd talking amongst themselves that consisted of Henry, Grace, Thomas, Snow, James, the seven dwarves, Red, Granny, and a handful of their kingdom's knights with their families. Henry and Grace ran up to Emma and Jefferson wishing them a good morning but Henry quickly stole away his mom from her husband and pulled her over a few feet to whisper something in her ear as Grace excitedly explained to her papa how the egg hunt was going to work.

After Grace finished her explanation Jefferson questioned, looking over to his wife and son, "Do you know what that is all about?"

A sneaky grin spread across Grace's face as she replied a simple "Yes," but then skipped away to chat amongst a few of her friends from the knight's families.

Jefferson eyed his wife questioningly as she smiled and rolled her eyes at whatever Henry was whispering to her. Henry pulled Emma to a small room connected to the foyer as Jefferson joined the rest of the adults on the far wall, still eyeing them as they disappeared through the doorway.

Snow stepped out in front of the rather large crowd and hushed everyone as she began to give her small speech that greeted everyone, explained the rules and precautions, and laid out the itinerary for the day. Just as Snow was about to tell the children to start Jefferson noticed that Henry had rejoined the group of kids which left his eyes scanning the room for Emma but she was nowhere in sight.

"Hey there." Emma whispered directly in his ear, coming up behind him, causing him to jump. Emma choked back a laugh as a devilish grin slipped across her face in delight that _for once_ she was actually able to sneak up on her husband and scare him as he had done so many times before to her.

"Not funny." He pouted as his eyebrows set into a stern look.

"Eh, I like to call it payback… for earlier." Emma teased as she stood up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek.

It wasn't until then that Jefferson noticed what Emma held in her one hand, a variation of the Easter baskets the kids had in their hands. As he looked down at it then back up at her and teased, "You have got to be kidding me."

"What? I am simply making up for lost time!" Emma said rolling her eyes towards Jefferson.

It was right then that Snow called the beginning of the hunt and Jefferson merely let a laugh as his wife ran off to join the now running small mob of kids with Easter egg baskets. She was a mystery to him. One moment she would be terribly uptight and rolling her eyes at even the mere idea of just having a good time like this but there she was running off with a bunch of kids as though she was still one. Despite his fascination with her mysteriousness he was incredibly happy to see her let loose and have a bit of fun with the family and friends she'd never had and enjoy something frivolous and child-like she had never been able to experience before.

Jefferson took his attention away from his wife and kids for a moment to walk towards James who stood with his arms crossed amongst the other parents, staring off at their kids. "Was this your idea?" he questioned.

"Actually Henry's, but I was more than willing to go along with it." James replied still looking off towards the children. "Emma rarely celebrated holidays as a child not to mention being able to participate in something such as this. I want her to get everything we weren't able to give her. I know we can't take back the time we lost with her but we are going to try our absolute hardest to make up for it," James confided.

"You made the right decision you know," Jefferson assured, taking a pause before continuing to see if James would interject but he didn't so he decided to continue, "She knows the choice you had to make and she would have done the same thing if she was in your position. Honestly, she doesn't hold any resentment."

After a few moments of looking off into the crowd Charming turned his head towards Jefferson and replied, "Thank you." He paused for a moment, glancing away, then continued, "And I know that, but it doesn't mean I don't wonder what things would have been like if we didn't make that decision. All the things we could have done with her… Everything we could have given her…"

Taking James' quick moment of silence as an opportunity Jefferson added, "But if you hadn't made that decision the curse would have never been broken. You probably would not have even been together. We certainly would not be where we are today. And where we are is a good place. She's happy and she has Henry and is with her parents, she has everything she ever wanted and as you said, you can use times like this to make up for that lost time. In retrospect, you only missed twenty-eight years… that is not a lot when you think about it, she has a whole lifetime ahead of her that you get to be apart and I _know_ you will embrace every second of it." Jefferson finished taking a breath and letting a small smile pull at the corners of his mouth as he thought about his wife and how much she enjoyed her life and the perfect smile that almost never seemed to leave her face lately.

James, now looking off again at the egg hunting kids took a deep breath before replying, "I hope you realize that you are a part of her happiness as well." He then turned back towards Jefferson to place his right hand on Jefferson's left shoulder and continued, "Grace too… And I am glad to have you both as part of my family. As much as I used to hate to admit it, you are good for her… No, not good, perfect. You have made her so happy and I could not have asked for a better match for her. So thank you Jefferson, honestly."

"You're welcome." Jefferson said quietly but earnestly.

After a moment he and James turned their attention back towards the children and to break the silence James teased, "So at this point who do you think is winning, my daughter or yours?"

Jefferson let out a small laugh as replied, rolling his eyes, "Absolutely yours."

At this point the kids had started to spread out beyond the halls connected to the foyer and parents began follow their children as they made their way throughout the castle. James and Jefferson followed suit as James went in the direction of the garden, where Henry was headed, and Jefferson in the direction of the grand ballroom, where Grace was headed.

Once Jefferson reached the ballroom he stood leaning up against the archway leading from the hallway and found Emma clearing one side of the room of all the eggs that could only be reached by someone over five feet, two other children running through to get to the adjacent hallway, and Grace bending down to pick up Alex who was struggling to grab an egg on a shelf that was just out of her reach. He noticed how his daughter had only two eggs in her basket whereas, Alex had at least a dozen but her selflessness did not surprise him in the least. What did surprise him though was that when he looked back to where Emma had been piling eggs in her basket, she was now taking those same eggs out of her basket and placing them all at much more accessible heights and hiding places for even the smallest of children to reach.

Emma then tried to casually walk away, pretending not to notice the now low to the ground eggs. Grace now looked to the side of the room Emma had just been on, saw all the easily accessible eggs, and quickly ran towards the wall with Alex in tow, clinging onto her right hand, overrun with giddiness. Emma stopped at the archway leading into one of the connecting hallways and leaned up against it, watching her daughter help her dear friend's daughter, as a proud smile slipped on her face.

Jefferson took this opportunity to sneak up on his wife so he made his way through the many hallways and within a minute stood behind his wife who was still leaning under the archway, watching their daughter enjoy herself.

"I don't think this was exactly Henry's plan." Jefferson teased, whispering within a centimeter of her ear.

"Dear god!" she yelled as she jumped up in shock. After a moment she took a breath and let her heartbeat slow down, leaning a hand up against the wall to steady herself, then turned to Jefferson and gave him a punch on the arm hard enough to leave a bruise.

"Ouch!" he pouted, clasping his one hand to his injured arm.

"Oh shut up, you deserve it!" she replied rolling her eyes at him then returning her attention to her daughter.

Jefferson rolled his eyes and leaned down to place his chin on her shoulder, looking to his daughter, as he whispered, "Seriously. Why no basket full of eggs?"

Still staring off, she replied coolly, "You honestly think I would be that cruel as to take away any of the fun from these kids?"

He paused for a bit too long of a moment then teased, "Well…"

"Oh shut up, Jefferson!" she shouted as she turned back towards him to slap his already 'injured' arm.

"Ow!" he whined. "You know, you can really pack a punch."

"What else are princesses for?" she teased, rolling her eyes. "Honestly though, you think I would be that mean to the kids? This is their 'thing' and I wouldn't want to intrude on that because you know, I want them to—"

"No," he said, interrupting her rant. "I would never think you would do that," he continued, wrapping his hands around her waist. "But you do deserve to have a bit of fun today as well."

"But _this_," she said, gesturing towards where Alex and Grace were hunting for eggs, "is fun for me. Seeing the smile on Grace's face and Alex's as well and hopefully Henry's too, when I go to check up on him, are more than enough to make me happy therefore, I _am_ having fun. Simply having any time with my friends and my parents and our kids and _you_ is all need to have a good time." She finished, smiling that perfect smile of hers, looking up at him shyly.

Jefferson overwhelmed with love and passion leaned to her with a genuine smile on his own face and kissed her. He could not begin to describe his love for her and it was times like this when he didn't understand how he was lucky enough to have ended up with her. He would do anything for her and follow her to the ends of every universe there was if she wanted him to.

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_Like I said before, I am beyond sorry it took forever to update this, I had planned on finishing it within a few days of the last chapter but then my old laptop starting smoking so I had to not use it until I could get a new one and get all of my files on there. But no worries now because I have a beautiful, new laptop and I should be cranking out chapters MUCH quicker (and if I don't, feel free to bother me incessantly). ;D I'm not really sure how much I like this chapter but I certainly hope you enjoyed it and thank you again so so so so sooooooo very much to all of you that have read and even more to those of you who have reviewed and followed/favorited! Your great responses mean everything to me! =D_


	4. Do Not Even Go There Emma

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_This chapter is rather short compared to the rest and the next one will be as well but Chapter 6 I GUARANTEE will be very long (I may even have to split it into two chapters) so I hope you don't mind a few short ones. I really hope people are still interested this and if you are (or even if you hate it) let me know, I love any and all reviews! And without further adieu, here is Chapter 4 of "Our Wonderland", ENJOY! _

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_A/N: This skips to dinnertime on Easter and in the time we skipped Abigail, Frederick, and their three-year old son Edgar (not from OUAT, he's my own character) arrived._

**Chapter 4****: Do Not Even Go There Emma **

The entire group of royals, advisors, knights, and dear friends from that morning (now with the addition of Princess Abigail, Prince Frederick, and their three year-old son Edgar) were gathered around the grand dining table set for fifty. Everyone was enjoying their meals and chatting casually about anything and everything that was happening amongst the kingdoms and cooing at the adorable, small children.

"Congratulations Alex. I hear you were a wonderful egg hunter this morning." Frederick praised as he walked past Alex's high-chair that sat next to her mother as he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

Alex let out a giggle as she replied with her best pronunciation of, "thank you."

It turns out Grace's generosity from the morning festivities had led to Alex winning the Easter egg hunt and she felt ever so royal as she accepted her congratulations from the many other guests. Grace flashed a proud smile at the young royal, reveling in the fact that she had helped make her so happy.

"I did good mommy!" Alex squealed, turning to face her mother who sat next to her.

"Yes, you most certainly did my darling." Ella replied with a warm smile. "You also did a wonderful job decorating the garden as well. All of you did." She added, turning to face Grace and the other kids who sat towards her end of the table.

They all replied with sporadic 'thank you's before turning back to their own conversations that were filled with excitement over the day's events.

They had spent the morning egg hunting then ate a lavish breakfast before decorating the expansive castle garden with soft-colored streamers and lanterns. They later enjoyed an outdoor lunch in the newly-decorated garden then everyone rode their horses and carriages to spend the afternoon at the beach before coming back to prepare for the extravagant dinner.

"Why aren't Pinnochio, Jiminy, and Gepetto celebrating here with us?" Abigail (who sat directly across from Emma) inquired, turning towards her and reaching across the table to grab a roll.

The mention of the not-so wooden man caused Jefferson (who sat at Emma's left) to whip his attention to his wife's conversation, subtly listening intently to their every word. It wasn't that he didn't like Pinnochio… he was a good man as well as a loyal advisor and knight in training and as much as he hated to admit it, he was a good and dear friend to Emma but that fact alone was what caused his uneasiness with the man. Behind her father, himself, and Henry, Pinnochio was the man she gave the most attention to and he knew they had a past and whenever she was with him or talked about him, he couldn't help but feel a not very slight pang of jealousy.

"Oh they just decided to spend their Easter at Aurora and Phillip's celebration." She replied coolly.

"Really?... I would have thought Pinnochio would want to spend it with Red…?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows with a sneaky smile forming on her face.

"They're too stubborn to admit anything's been going on between them." Emma said rolling her eyes, as she placed a fork full of pasta in her mouth.

"Do not even go there Emma." Abigail snapped back playfully, causing Jefferson to choke back a laugh.

Emma merely looked up shyly from where she stared at her plate with a questioning look.

"Oh don't act like you don't know what she's talking about." Ella (who was sitting to the right of Abigail) chimed in.

Emma slowly swallowed her food then sat back against her chair as she folded her arms against her chest, with that still questionable look on her face.

"You were in complete denial when you first started having feelings for Jefferson," Abigail playfully chided.

"You practically diagnosed yourself with psychosis before you actually admitted you had feelings for him." Ella added, finishing Abigail's thought.

"And it took you three months before you even said yes to his proposal," Frederick (who was sitting to the left of Abigail, with Edgar on his own left) chimed in, looking back over his shoulder as he was helping his son cut up his food.

"Whoa, okay!" Emma gave in as she uncrossed her arms and raised her hands in surrender. "So I'm not one to talk, I get it. But I still don't think it's healthy that they deny what is so obvious to everyone else."

Jefferson could not help but overdramatically roll his eyes at the irony in his wife's statement. Their history was a complicated one, to say the least, and Emma certainly had her fair share of unhealthy denial and refusal, so to hear her scold someone else's relationship denial was rather absurd.

Jefferson's display of disapproval was apparent to everyone leading them to let out a laugh except Emma whose focus now turned to her son who sat two seats down from her. Henry sat to Jefferson's left and was leaning forward, reaching down the table, across the plates of food in between him and his mother to tap on her plate in attempt to get her attention.

"Hey. Mom. Hey!" Henry semi-whispered.

Emma leaned forward slightly, turning towards her son as Jefferson leaned as far back as he could against his chair to let them talk. "What's up, Henry?" she whispered back.

"You know, I was just wondering… if you, ya know…" Henry trailed off.

"Just spit it out kid." Emma urged him.

"Well… you said you would think about whether we can go to Wonderland or not—" Henry continued but was cut off.

"Now is not the time Henry, we'll talk about it some other time." Emma replied sternly as she started to turn back to her plate.

"Half the time when you say 'we'll talk about it another time' we never end up talking about it…EVER!" Henry said coldly.

"Well maybe that's because I don't want to talk about it." Emma scoffed.

"But Grace and I _really _want to go so we should talk about it now." Henry pleaded.

"Not, now." Emma said, turning back to her plate.

All the while, Jefferson's head snapped between his wife and son with a frightful yet concerned look on his face as they argued, almost looking as though he was observing a tennis match.

"Please…" Henry begged as lips turned into a frown and his eyes glazed over, now glistening with sadness.

Damn. Emma could not resist when her son was upset and pleading with her. Normally he would let things go but he must really want this. Well this was just great. She had no idea what to say and now was certainly not the time or place to discuss this. Ugh. Why were so many people talking right now? She needed to think and she couldn't with all the noise buzzing around her. She noticed her husband staring at her with a questioning look as he watched the internal conflict wash over her visage. She could not take this amount of pressure. She glanced quickly over to her son's face which was still set in a permanent frown and she quickly looked back down at her hands. She couldn't think of a rational thought so she simply blurted out, "Fine! You can go."

Jefferson, Henry, Grace (who was eavesdropping on their entire conversation), and Ella (who had also been listening and actually knew what the problem was) now sat with their jaws dropped.

'What?', Emma thought to herself. She had never been good in high pressure situations and certainly never claimed to be. If they didn't want some sort of insane and abrupt answer they should not have put her in this situation. This was _not_ her fault.

"Wait, really?" Henry questioned with a grin now forming on his face.

"Uh, yeah. I guess so…" Emma replied, nearly questioning herself. She barely knew what she had said but would not dare take it back now that she had said yes. Henry would be angry with her forever and she would never be able to live with herself if she did that to him.

"Emma…" Jefferson finally said but was unable to form a coherent sentence.

"Grace did you hear that?" Henry said, turning towards his sister, his voice filling with glee.

The two kids grew giddy as they planned with each other what they wished to do on their upcoming trip as their parents sat in an awkward stare-off.

Emma searched Jefferson's smoky, blue eyes for a sign as to what he might be thinking but saw nothing. Her mind then immediately reverted to it's old reliable insecurity mindset that she had spent years trying to push away and began to think he was going to leave. Certainly he was angry with her. How could he not be? She would be pissed if she were him and would have stomped off by now. She felt her heart drop in her chest as she imagined him walking away. She was certainly not currently in her right mind and that is when she needed someone the most. And to be perfectly honest, she didn't just need anyone, she needed him.

They stared for a moment longer until Jefferson quickly snatched up Emma's hand to give it a tight squeeze and calmly said, "It's okay. I know how hard it is to resist those puppy dog eyes." A warm smile spread across his face right before he leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

Emma sat half shocked and half relieved at his response as Ella let out a large sigh for she had been holding her breath during the entire ordeal but now she saw that all was well and she could breathe again.

"I'm so sorry." Emma breathed out, still looking up at him.

"Do _not_ apologize Emma." He replied abruptly and turned to her once again. He stared deep into her ocean blue eyes as he continued, "There is never anything you have to apologize to me for. I will support everything you do. I have told you this before and I will stay true to that no matter how impulsive or outrageous you may act." He let his words sink in before adding with a smile, "But we _will_ talk about this later. Just please, don't apologize. You have nothing to be sorry for princess."

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_As always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and still like my work. I know this chapter did not have a lot of conversation within it but I thought it might be a little more interesting if we went a little deeper into everyone's thoughts and mindsets. Let me know what you think and thank you sooooooo much to those of you who have already reviewed and favorited/followed!_


	5. Princesses Aren't This Abusive

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_As I said, I apologize for the relative shortness of this chapter but the next one should be a giant so that will make up for these past two! But I hope you still enjoy it and if you get the chance, please review! __**ENJOY!**_

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**Chapter 5****: Princesses Aren't Supposed To Be This Abusive **

"Now you boys be off to do whatever it is you boys do." Snow said towards James, ushering him, Frederick, Jefferson, and Thomas away.

The knights from the earlier festivities had accompanied their families back to their respective homes in the village leaving the normal castle-dwellers and their few guests that were staying there to themselves. Young Edgar had been put to bed and although Henry and Grace were sent to their rooms and wished 'goodnight' they were far from asleep as they imagined all their adventures to come in Wonderland. Granny had volunteered to stay in Alex's room, just in case she woke up, to give Ella and Thomas a chance to spend time with their friends. The dwarves had decided to head off to their quarters to settle down a bit early after their tiring day but the rest of the party-goers now stood in the expansive hallway that housed the majority of the guest rooms.

Emma stood pressed against Jefferson's side with her fingers laced in his not wanting to leave the warmth of his body touching hers. She watched as her mother let go of her father's hand as she went to join the group of women heading in the other direction then she stared up at Jefferson.

"Go join them," he encouraged. "We can talk later. Besides, you never get nearly enough girl-talk time."

"Yes, and there's a reason for that." She replied, glaring towards him. "If you couldn't tell, I'm not really the 'girly'-type. Sleepovers with late-night girl talks were never really my thing."

"_No_." he gasped, jokingly astonished.

She placed her free hand to his chest and let out a small laugh, "Please! Save me from the talk about the latest ball gown designs and the news on what's in style in each realm."

"Come on, I'm sure it can't be that horrible," he speculated. "Honestly, I cannot see your mother going on for hours about the fashion in different realms."

"My mom may be a bad-ass at times but when she's with certain friends she goes to the dark side," Emma explained, rolling her eyes. "They get so into it, they even are able to pull Red into it."

"Well maybe you should loosen up a little bit and simply enjoy time with your friends. It doesn't hurt you just to sit there and listen. Maybe it's not the most stimulating conversation but you do get to be with friends and that should be enough." He insisted. "Now go have fun with your mother and friends." He ordered, pulling away from her as he gave the hand the held one quick kiss. "And we _will _talk later." He finished, just before turning and quickening his pace to catch up with the rest of the men.

Emma let out a sigh of defeat as she allowed her shoulders to slump and feet to drag as she slowly made her way to the room the women had turned into.

As she slumped into the room she noticed an open seat on the couch next to her mother and plopped down. She pulled her legs up onto the couch to crisscross them as she crossed her arms over her chest and sat all the way back into the couch.

"Snow, the celebration was lovely! I cannot believe how wonderful everything was. Thank you for putting on such a fantastic event." Abigail exclaimed to Snow.

"Oh yes, it was so great Snow. I thought all of your ideas were brilliant and I know the kids definitely had fun." Ella added with a smile.

"You really did a fabulous job." Red agreed.

"Well thank you very much. You have no idea how much work I put into it." Snow boasted proudly. "But if you think today's festivities were great, you are going to_ love_ what I have planned for Christmas!"

"Christmas?" Ella questioned as Emma rolled her eyes. "It isn't even summer yet."

"Well it is never too early to plan ahead." Snow replied with a small smile and a wink.

"Oooh, I am intrigued," Abigail confided. "Please do make sure there are four seats saved at the dinner table for my family."

Emma seemed to be the only one who noticed that Abigail had said 'four' for her family which caused Emma's eyes to widen then sit forward slightly as she filled with curiosity. Surely, King Midas would not be coming, considering how he chose to never accompany Abigail to any of her friend's holiday celebrations in the neighboring realms, so who could the fourth person be?...

"We certainly will." Snow replied to Abigail, oblivious to the subtle hint her friend had just given.

"Wait a second; did you just say 'four'?" Emma butted in, curiosity now overwhelming her.

Abigail nodded eagerly as a grin spread across her face with her lips tightly pressed together. Emma's question caused the others to finally catch onto what Abigail's statement had implied and Ella quickly questioned, "Does that mean—"

"That you're—" Snow continued.

"Pregnant?" Red finished.

Abigail let the grin spread across her entire face as she vigorously nodded her head and Ella pulled her friend into a tight hug from the side, possibly squeezing so hard the air went straight out of Abigail's lungs. Emma let a smile slip across her face as she grew happy for her friend.

"Congratulations!" Red and Snow exclaimed in unison.

Ella pulled back to let Abigail breathe and quickly added, "When did you find out?"

"Last week." Abigail replied with the cheeky smile still stretching from ear to ear.

"Aaaaww," Snow squealed. "Did you tell Edgar yet?"

"Oh yes, of course. He was so excited to hear he was going to be a big brother." Abigail informed her giddy friends.

"That's so great Abigail." Emma finally added, a bit more calm then the rest of her group. "When are you due?"

"My doctor said sometime in September." Abigail answered as her smile somehow continued to grow.

"Oh my goodness!" Red suddenly declared, "We need to start planning the baby shower now!"

"Well Giselle already called dibs on having it at her palace. But besides that, as far as I know, no details have been planned so feel free to start sorting out the details." Abigail explained.

Ella then chimed in and starting deciding upon the decorations as her other friends joined in, growing more excited with each new idea. Emma started to grow wary of her slightly overzealous friends and decided to excuse herself and wish them a goodnight. They all took a quick moment to wish her a restful sleep as she walked towards the doorway but then quickly got back to their eager planning.

She walked up the two flights of stairs that led to the floor of the castle that housed hers and her family's bedrooms. As she walked past Henry's and Grace's doorways she took a moment to poke her head in the doorway of each of their rooms to check on them and smiled as she found them both sleeping soundly with bright smiles on their faces.

She approached her bedroom expecting to find an empty room, assuming that the men were still having their 'guy time' but instead found her husband sitting in their bed, legs extended in front of him, arms crossed, and eyes staring off into nowhere.

Emma stopped at the doorway before asking, "So, did you guys finish your 'guy-talk' early or something?"

Taking notice of his wife Jefferson snapped out of his trance and smiled in her direction as he replied with a small laugh, "No, I merely, excused myself… I can only take so much talk about kingdom politics and sword fighting techniques."

"And you said _I_ was bad when it came to bonding with my friends…?" she questioned teasingly as she entered their room, walking to where Jefferson sat on their bed and leaning her upper body forward towards him, placing one hand on each side of his waist.

"Because you are," he whispered just before he leaned in an inch to plant a slow, chaste kiss upon her lips. After a moment he pulled away slightly then still whispering he finished, "you didn't seem to stay with them for long."

"Well I was doing relatively well until Abigail announced her big news, then they started going crazy with planning a shower and I could only take so much." Emma explained, rolling her eyes as she changed into a simple, white night-shirt and a pair of shorts.

"And what 'big news' would that be?" he questioned as his interest peaked.

"Oh, Frederick didn't tell you guys?" Emma asked confused as she climbed over to settle herself against his side, wrapping one arm through his, placing her free hand on his chest, and nestling her face in the crook of his neck.

"No… at least not while I was with them. Now what is this big news?" he questioned again impatiently.

"Geez, impatient much?" she teased, turning her head to look up into his eyes. "Abigail is pregnant," she finished with a smile.

"Oh, well I guess should have guessed that when you said 'shower'..." He replied with a smile as Emma gave a small laugh.

They both sat for a moment of silence, enjoying the peace and quiet and simply being in one another's embrace as Jefferson gently took hold of Emma's hand that lay on his chest with his free hand and began tracing small circles on it with his finger. The moment lasted until he took in a deep breath before he reluctantly started, "So, about earlier…"

Emma slowly closed then opened her eyes as she glanced up at him then back down to stare at their laced fingers and frantically replied, "Like I said, I am so sorry, honestly. I just couldn't take the pressure and I didn't—"

"I told you," he cut her off as he looked down to her and cupped her cheek, "do not apologize Emma. I simply meant we need to figure how and when we're going to go."

Jefferson smiled as she finally looked him in the eyes, "Are you sure you aren't mad?"

"I already said this princess, I could never be." He confided before leaning towards her to give her a quick but loving kiss.

Emma smiled back at him and she felt his heart beat faster at the sight of her grinning face. "Well I have 'royal duties' to attend to for the next couple of weeks but I think I get a day off on the fifteenth."

"Then the fifteenth it is. We will take the hat in the morning and spend the afternoon there and be back in time for dinner." He responded with a semi-forced smile.

Letting it all sink in Emma stared off for a moment before questioning, "How did we even get ourselves into this?"

"You're too much of a pushover." He replied all too quickly causing her to swat at his chest, making him do a fake wince of pain and laugh, "I really think we need to take care of your violence issues. Last I checked, princesses aren't supposed to be this abusive."

"And last I checked, you weren't a comedian so quit making fun of my issues." She quipped.

"Fine, but only because you asked so nicely," he replied sarcastically. "Now goodnight my princess," he wished her, gazing at her lovingly as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head before nuzzling his face in her hair.

"Goodnight Jefferson," she said smiling and closing her eyes as she curled even further into him, "Love you."

"And I love you too Emma," he conceded, pulling her as close possible and drifting off to sleep with his love in his arms.

* * *

_As always, I hope you like this chapter and please review if you liked/loved/hated it or felt anything about it, I love any and all feedback! I cannot even begin to thank you all who have followed/favorited and reviewed and I hope you all who have are still enjoying this and I hope any new readers have enjoyed this as well! The next chapter is the trip to Wonderland and I should have it up by Sunday night so get excited!_


	6. Jefferson Do Not Even Go There

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't.__ (Due to recent updates in "Happily Never After" I have to inform you that the Wonderland situation will be drastically different [because in my story, Regina was locked up/killed in The Enchanted Forest not sent to and stuck in Wonderland and The Looking Glass is still there as the door to Wonderland.])_

_Thank you to everyone for your continued interest in this story, I cannot express how great all of your wonderful reviews and follows/favorites mean to me! I'm sorry this one isn't quite as long as my normal (long) chapters but it is yet another chapter of "Our Wonderland" nonetheless, so please, enjoy!_

_A/N: This chapter jumps ahead to the fifteenth (the day they planned for their Wonderland trip). _

* * *

**Chapter 6****: Jefferson Do Not Even Go There**

"Please mom, you have to come with us!" Henry whined, tugging on his mother's arm.

"Henry I already told you. I would love to go but I have to go handle an agreement in Mareguard. I tried to get out of it but Snow and James want me taking on more and more responsibility so I can't really help it kid…" Emma explained, saddened that her son was so distraught over her sudden call to duty.

"But I don't want to go without you." Henry continued complaining.

"I know you don't and it kills me to have to leave you but Jefferson will be with you and you know, Belle is going too." Emma replied, attempting to ease his complaints.

"Wait, really?" Henry questioned as he slightly jumped with excitement and a smile creeped across his face.

Emma replied with a nod and a smile as her son's excitement began returning.

"No way! I talked to her last night when she got here but she didn't tell me she was coming with us!" Henry exclaimed as his smile grew as big as he could spread it across his face.

"Well she didn't really know last night. I just talked to her this morning but she was more than willing to go along with you guys." Emma explained.

"Does Grace know?" he asked as he pulled back and looked her in the eyes inquisitively.

"Nope." Emma laughed as her son's excitement grew.

"Oh my goodness, I have to go tell her!" Henry exclaimed as he let his mom's arms go and started to run off in the direction of Grace's room.

"Goodbye to you too." Emma yelled towards him, rolling her eyes.

"I'll be back." Henry yelled back as his voice grew quieter with his growing distance.

Emma sighed and stared down at her hands as she let her mind wonder. She didn't want anyone to go on this trip in the first place but at least she was a part of it before and would be sure to protect her family at all costs. But now she wasn't going and it was practically unbearable for her. Her mother refused to be the one to take her place on her family's journey so Belle seemed like the next best option. Belle was well-read on Wonderland, its history, and the rules there plus she trusted and loved Belle dearly but she simply despised being without her family. It probably didn't help either that Belle was the only person besides herself that got along so well with Jefferson. They often would sit and talk for hours about god knows what and she slightly envied the way they connected with one another. She knew Jefferson would never betray her and neither Belle, Rumplestiltskin but she couldn't help but admit that she was jealous.

"Did you change your mind about going?" Jefferson inquired from the doorway.

Emma's head snapped up as she was drawn out of her trance and sounding defeated, she threw her arms up in the air and replied, "It's not my choice, I already told you that."

"I know, I know princess. You have your royal duties to attend to but a man can dream." Jefferson mused as he walked towards her and pulled her from where she sat on their bed.

"It is honestly killing me not to go with you… I'm almost contemplating ditching my parents' thing so I can go." Emma sighed as her eyes wandered off into the distance searching for an answer to her dilemma.

"Well as a princess I don't think that would be viewed very well by your royal subjects." He teased with a smirk.

"Well as _my_ husband I don't think it would be viewed very well by myself if you left me worrying sick about you all day." Emma pouted as she looked up into his eyes and clasped her arms around his neck.

"Now that is just not fair! Please refresh my memory but wasn't it _you _who agreed to this little outing? Plus, I don't think that would fair too well with our kids…" Jefferson retorted with his smirk growing.

"I already told you, there was _way _too much pressure on me," she defended as she pulled back from him to look at him with a hint of worry in her eyes, "but it's starting to sound like you don't even want me there."

Jefferson instantly filled with shock at her statement and his hand instinctively cupped her cheek as she let her gaze drop down from his eyes. Wanting to vanquish any thought in her head that he ever wanted to be without her, his eyes stared directly into hers as he soothed, "Trust me Emma, I want to be by your side every minute of every day but unfortunately that cannot be not the case. It is often even considered slightly obsessive and trust me, people already think I'm crazy." This caused a small smile to pull at Emma's lips as she finally looked up at him from under her brow, "All I ever want is for you to be happy and I never want you to worry but I think it is far too late to back out of this and I don't want you to abandon your responsibilities as a royal. It will kill me as well to not be with you but this is unfortunately how it has to be. I love you and you love me and our kids love us and vice versa so please do not ever worry about any of us not wanting you to be with us."

Jefferson pulled her face towards his with the hand that held her cheek and planted a slow, loving kiss on her lips. She pulled away with a smile and he roped her into a hug and squeezed her tightly, never wanting to let her go as his lips brushed the top of her head. They stood for a moment before pulling apart and walking out of the room hand in hand. They walked slowly, savoring every moment they had before they parted, then reached Grace's room. They found Belle sitting cross-legged on Grace's bed, wearing a light blue racer-back sun dress with ruffles around the neckline, as Henry and Grace sat on each side of her pestering her with questions. The two children noticed their parents standing in the doorway and silenced themselves as they jumped up from their current positions and ran to hug their parents.

Jefferson and Emma caught them in a group hug as Belle looked towards them smiling affectionately, "Oh thank goodness you two got here, these two were talking my ears off."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Emma joked, looking down at her kids.

Grace and Henry let a small giggle escape them as they stepped back from their parents.

"Can we go now?" Henry questioned, nearly bouncing with excitement.

"Are you ready to go?" Jefferson teased with a smile.

"Of course Papa!" Grace answered for her brother.

"Well then I guess it's time to go." He confirmed with a soft smile and a squeeze of Emma's hand in his as she glanced at him with pleading eyes, "Now wish Emma luck on her trip to Mareguard before we leave."

Grace wrapped her arms around Emma and smiled, "Have a good time with Ariel, Eric, and Melody."

"And you have fun in Wonderland Grace and please, keep an eye on him." Emma teased leaning down to Grace's height as she pointed a finger playfully towards her daughter and looked over her shoulder at Jefferson, "Keep both of our men safe."

"I absolutely will!" Grace replied proudly with a smile and a tight hug.

"Be good kid," Emma smiled, turning to her son as she pulled him in for a hug and kissed the top of his head before tousling his hair, "and have fun. Say 'hi' to The White Rabbit for me."

"Thanks mom, I will!" Henry exclaimed with a smile. "Come on Grace, let's go!" Henry finished as he turned towards his sister and started pulling her by the wrist as he ran out the door.

"Don't worry, I'll go keep an eye on them and give you two a minute." Belle acknowledged with a knowing smile, "Please tell Ariel and Eric 'hello' from me. Oh and, tell Melody not to forget about her visit next weekend."

"No problem." Emma answered as she looked away from Jefferson to give her friend a quick hug.

Belle ran out the door then to catch up with the children as Jefferson pulled Emma to him. His lips brushed hers as they both closed their eyes and savored one another's kiss.

"I love you Emma, please try to have at least a little fun. I cannot stand knowing that you may be upset and I will not be with you." Jefferson admitted as he pulled back ever so slightly.

"I love you too and I will try." Emma breathed out with a sigh. They stood in each other's embrace for a moment before Emma continued, pleading, "Please be safe."

"And you as well my love." Jefferson soothed as he leaned down to let his lips brush past hers before deepening the kiss but within moments they heard Snow approaching from down the hall calling for Emma. They pulled apart an inch and left their foreheads pressed together as they took a breath.

"I'm in here." Emma reluctantly called out to her mother.

"Emma I'm terribly sorry but we have got to leave if we want to back tonight before sunset." Snow replied as she appeared in the doorway with a small, apologetic smile.

Emma's frown now grew large and she looked over to her mom then to Jefferson with saddened eyes.

"Please smile! I cannot leave a princess with such a sad look on her face." He whispered, pulling her chin up to look him directly in the eye. Emma mustered up a fake smile and Jefferson merely shook his head, "I have known you long enough to know, that is _not_ the stunning smile I know my princess to have."

Emma allowed a genuine smile to fall across her visage as her husband's words sank in. Jefferson's heart skipped a beat at the sight of the smile on his wife's face. His own lips twisted up into an accomplished smile as he conceded, "Now there's that smile. I will see you later princess." He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and he leaned to her and gave her one last, longing kiss.

Snow smiled from the doorway as she recognized the love exuding from her daughter and son-in-law. She could understand the unwillingness to separate for she had experienced it many times before with James and it was truly insufferable. She hated seeing her daughter this upset but knew they both had to experience separation at some point and had to learn to endure the pain. Emma and Jefferson pulled apart but still stood staring longingly into each other's eyes with hands intertwined. Though Snow did not want to break up their moment, they truly did have to leave for Mareguard now if they wanted to be back by nightfall so she gently laid a hand on Emma's arm in an attempt to pull her into reality.

Emma looked down at her arm then up at her mother and let out a heavy sigh.

"I'm sorry Jefferson," Snow apologized earnestly as she noticed his hands slightly trembling as he now realized that he had to let his wife go without him.

Emma gave Jefferson's hands one last squeeze before he returned the gesture and they, more reluctantly than ever, pulled away from one another.

"Have a safe journey Jefferson and be safe." Snow smiled as she ushered Emma out the door.

"And you as well Snow." Jefferson replied as a forced smile gathered on his face.

Jefferson looked down at his trembling hands and with a grunt he shoved them into his pockets. He made his way back to his room feeling lonelier than ever then shuffled his feet over to the wooden cabinet that housed his old, tattered hat box. He pulled the case from the cabinet and shut the doors behind him as he trudged down the steps to the castle foyer. He walked out of the castle entrance, hat box in tow, and spotted his two children who were practically skipping as they excitedly headed across the castle bridge to the forest. Belle followed within a few feet of the kids as she looked back over her shoulder, noticing Jefferson appear through the castle entrance.

She stopped in her tracks and shouted for the kids to slow down as she waited for Jefferson to catch up to his fellow travelers. Jefferson eventually caught up to them and Belle noticed the somber look on his face. She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and confided, "I know how hard it can be without your love but you know, it's going to be okay, right?"

Jefferson simply shrugged his shoulders, his expression unchanging.

"It's not even a day Jefferson. I promise you can make it." She continued as her smile grew wider. "I know you're also worried about what will happen but the more you worry the worse it is going to make it. The kids only want to have fun so please try to enjoy it, at least just a little bit."

As his silence grew she became more impatient and half-serious, half-playfully shouted at him, "Just say something Jefferson!"

He stopped in his tracks, startling Belle and she skidded to a halt, turning to him.

His gaze was far off and unclear as he muttered just loud enough for Belle to hear, "Off with his head."

"Jefferson do _not_ even go there!" Belle reprimanded. "You know just as well as I do that the queen will leave you alone as long as you leave her alone. You have nothing to worry about because we are simply going to see your old friends, let the kids explore a little, then come back home. Now shut up about all that nonsense and put a smile on your face unless you want me telling the kids it _your _fault that they don't get to go on the trip they've been looking forward to for weeks."

His eyes slowly drifted to where Belle stood facing him defiantly with her hands on her hips before he turned to face her, gave a slight nod of his head in her direction as he flashed a quick, reluctant smirk and sauntered past her towards his kids.

She rolled her eyes at him, frustrated that he was being so stubborn. She had a feeling this was going to be a bit difficult considering he was doing this without Emma but she had no idea he would be such a child about it.

The kids stood at the edge of the forest, waiting with bated breaths as Jefferson approached. Jefferson plopped his hat on the ground and gave it a quick flick of his wrists and it started to spin and form a cloud of purple smoke. Belle stomped up to where the family stood as the cloud and the hat grew larger by the second. She took hold of Grace's hand and in turn, Grace grabbed Henry's and Henry reached out for Jefferson's. Jefferson looked down to the boy's outstretched hand then glanced to the infectious smile that covered his son's face. He couldn't help but let a genuine smile pull at the corners of his lips as he grasped his son's hand and shouted, "Off to Wonderland."

* * *

_Alright so I didn't really get to Wonderland like I thought I would because their farewells ended up much longer than I had anticipated but no worries the next chapter or two will be full of Wonderland adventures for you to enjoy. The updates will come very quickly and Jeff and Emma will be reunited in no time so no worries there! I hope you are still enjoying this and are looking forward to more because I have A TON planned for this._


	7. Oh My Friend Jefferson Is So, So Funny

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't.__ (Due to recent updates in "Happily Never After" I have to inform you that the Wonderland situation will be drastically different [because in my story, Regina was locked up/killed in The Enchanted Forest not sent to and stuck in Wonderland and The Looking Glass is still there as the door to Wonderland.])_

_Thank you so very much to everyone for all of your wonderfully lovely reviews! Because of them (and a little focus on my part) I was able to finish this chapter pretty quickly and am even more excited to keep updating. In this chapter we get to explore the mysteries of another realm so without further ado I welcome you to WONDERLAND! :D_

* * *

**Chapter 7****: Oh My Friend Jefferson Is So, So Funny**

Only a few seconds passed before the quartet found themselves surrounded by a plethora of doors in The Realm Room. Henry and Grace stood with their mouths agape as Belle's tight-lipped smile grew. Jefferson stared over his shoulder at The Looking Glass that stood twenty feet from their party in the middle of the room.

Grace glanced up to her father with a smile and followed his gaze to the mirror not too far from them and questioned, "Is that it Papa?"

"Yeah..." He answered slowly with a mix of nostalgia, remorse, and pain in his voice.

"Let's go!" Grace shouted running towards the mirror, pulling her brother with her.

"Wait!" Jefferson screamed, causing his two kids to come to a halt abruptly. "Let me lead the way and first, there are a few rules… Rule number one, none of this running off, you must stay close to me or Bella at _all_ times. Rule number two, do _not_ draw attention to yourselves. And rule number three, _never_ talk to anyone unless _I_ say you can."

"Yes papa." They replied in unison with a nod of their heads.

"Alright, let's go." He finished, turning away from them and slowly took a step through the looking glass.

Grace and Henry looked to one another with satisfied grins before simultaneously stepping through the mirror as Belle followed close behind. For a split second they passed through what felt like slime and a flash of light but once the light had gone they found themselves surrounded by a sea of over-sized grass, mushrooms, and flowers. They slowly took in their surroundings as their eyes wondered to every inch of this new world that they could see before them.

Jefferson stared ahead at a white-spotted, peach-colored mushroom that lied just a few feet from where they entered. He was expecting to see the old, hookah-smoking caterpillar lying atop the rock that always greeted him unwelcomingly to this horrid place yet all he found on top of it was nothingness. Well that was a stroke of luck, maybe he was liking Wonderland better already.

"This way." Jefferson called over his shoulder to his fellow travelers, ushering them to follow him.

He led his children and dear friend down the cobblestone pathway lined with dirt and an array of signs that pointed in varied directions (some even up and down) leading to places with untold mysteries that lied beyond them. As they walked, leisurely, taking in everything they saw, odd creatures of all shapes and sizes that fluttered about or tapped you on the shoulder one moment and be gone the next came to inspect the new inhabitants of Wonderland. The three pairs of eyes that were otherwise enthralled with their new surroundings were startled as they all came to an abrupt stop, bumping into one another just as they reached a clearing in the dense sea of grass.

Within this clearing sat a small cottage whose walls were made of stones and its roof made of straw and wooden beams. The chimney puffed out a steady stream of smoke and someone bustling about within it could be heard from the outside.

"This is where he lives." Jefferson remarked with a half-smile and a small gesture of his hands towards the cottage.

Henry's grin grew large as his sister questioned, "Can we go say 'hi' Papa?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just make sure you don't startle him… he's a bit, jumpy." Jefferson reminded.

Henry and Grace hesitantly made their way to the opening that was just large enough for them to fit through and peered their heads in the doorway calling softly for The White Rabbit, as not to scare him. Alas, The White Rabbit still jumped at the call of his name causing the tea he was pouring to spill all over the small table the teacups sat on. He jerked around to yell at whoever had startled him but saw it was Grace with a strange boy and his expression softened.

"Oh Grace, Grace, it is just you. Why, whatever are you doing here in Wonderland?" he questioned growing curious as he hopped towards the children twice his size standing in the doorway.

"Papa brought us here to visit because my brother wanted to meet you." She answered with a smile as the rabbit stood cautiously a few feet from his guests.

"Well, it is very, very nice to see you again. And what might your-ur brother's name be?" he asked with a stutter taking over his frantic tone.

"I'm Henry!" Henry exclaimed with a grin and stuck out his right hand for the small animal to shake.

The White Rabbit took one more hop to reach a distance that was far enough away but close enough to tentatively take the boy's hand and give it a small yet spastic shake. "N-nice to meet you Henry. And lovely to see you as well Grace but where, where is your father?" The Rabbit questioned as he hopped back to the tea table to clean up his mess.

"Right here," Jefferson answered, crouching through the doorway as Belle followed suit. "And this is a dear friend, Belle."

"Oh-oh. As always, you startled me hatter." The Rabbit jumped as he turned around to see Jefferson and Belle, accidentally knocking over two of the cups on the table.

"Please," Jefferson snapped sternly, "my name, is Jefferson."

"Oh right, right. I apologize Jefferson." The White Rabbit remarked, waving an apologetic hand towards Jefferson as he knelt to pick up the now cracked teacups.

"Oh please, let me help you with that." Belle interrupted as she scurried over to The White Rabbit and bent down to pick up the teacups.

"Oh th-thank you, Belle. How kind of you." The White Rabbit acknowledged as he reached out his paw for her to shake, "Please, please let me formally introduce myself. I, I am The White Rabbit."

"What a pleasure to meet you Mister Rabbit." Belle greeted as she grabbed his paw and gave it a firm shake.

As Belle walked towards the kitchen sink The White Rabbit suddenly stiffened and hastily reached inside his waistcoat. He pulled out a small pocket watch and as he quickly glanced at it his eyes widened and he shoved it back into his coat as he muttered, "Oh dear, oh dear. I'm late."

Grace and Henry caught each other's eyes as they looked to one another with knowing smiles before looking back to their host.

"I am so so sorry but I must be off. I am t-terribly afraid that I am late as usual. Please, please make yourself at home but I have no idea when I might be back so do not feel you have to wait around." The White Rabbit sputtered as he made his way to his doorway then disappeared down the cobblestone path shouting, "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!"

The visitors all glanced awkwardly at one another before Jefferson broke the silence and apologized somewhat sardonically, "Sorry you didn't really get to talk him Henry but… he kind of always does that."

"Are you kidding?" Henry exclaimed with a shout, "that was _so _cool!"

The rest of the party let out a chorus of laughter at Henry's unexpected enthusiasm.

Jefferson settled down his laughter then insisted to his son, "Well I'm glad you enjoyed merely seeing him but I do not see any reason for us to stay here any longer so—"

"But Papa we haven't even been here for an hour and I know we just said we wanted to come to see The White Rabbit but—" Grace interrupted, whining, but was then interrupted herself.

"Whoa, whoa! I simply meant that we leave _here, _as in, The White Rabbit's house," Jefferson remarked, gesturing to the small cottage they still stood crouched under. "Who says you were the only one who wanted to visit someone while in Wonderland?" he questioned with a mysterious smirk.

"Oh really Papa? Who are we going to go see now?" Grace questioned with renewed excitement.

"Follow me and you shall find out." Jefferson teased as he sauntered over to the doorway and out onto the path as his children chased behind him, incessantly questioning him about where and who they were off to see.

Belle followed behind them within a respectable distance as to let Jefferson have some time with just his kids. She smiled satisfied, as they weaved their way along the path, watching Jefferson tell tales of history in Wonderland to his fascinated children and forget about his worries that had filled his mind earlier that day. Belle was suddenly taken aback from her own thoughts as she heard a low purring noise that seemed to come from thin air. She slowly glanced in every direction as she continued walking but then the purr came again, now drifting around her, encircling her. She grew worried as the mysterious sound with no visible source continued but she did not utter a sound herself. She loudly gasped as a shadow appeared on her shoulder that transformed into a puff of smoke then the head of a dark blue and hot pink, striped cat.

Jefferson and his children quickly spun on their heels to discern the source of Belle's sudden fright and found a now whole cat with thick, tousled fur floating just above her right shoulder.

"The Cheshire Cat!" Grace shouted with glee.

"Oh please, do just call me Cheshire." He purred in a low, gruff yet smooth voice as he revealed his many sharp, white teeth with a sly grin.

"Well hello there Cheshire." Belle greeted with a curious look as she stared down the cat who laid on her shoulder. "I am Belle."

"Oh, lovely to meet you Belle." He replied with a slight whisper as he floated around her head, lounging with one leg propped under the side of his head for support. "Where are you heading to Belle?" he mused, dragging out each word with his wondrous voice.

"Oh well I'm not exactly sure… You would have to ask Jefferson." She replied confidently as she smiled at the cat becoming more comfortable in his presence.

"Ooooohhh, Jefferson…" the cat laughed as he flipped upside down to look in Jefferson's direction. Then in a second, The Cheshire Cat vanished from Belle's side and lay atop Jefferson's head and teased as he stroked Jefferson's hair like a pet, "You know you look rather different without a hat on Jefferson. Your hairstyle is of good taste but I personally think you would look _much_ better with an elegant top hat covering it."

"You do realize you are not funny Cheshire?" Jefferson snapped as he swatted at the cat atop his head but The Cheshire Cat was too quick and in a flash showed up, floating between Grace and Henry.

"Oh but I think I am," Cheshire quipped back as Henry and Grace let out a small laugh. "See, even your children think I am humorous." He teased, revealing his sneaky grin. "Now do tell, who are you off to see?"

"An old friend," Jefferson informed with a grunt as he fixed his hair the cat had been petting.

"Aaaahh I see. I have not seen Mister Hare in quite a long time either, maybe I should accompany you to pay a visit to that dear, crazy fellow." Cheshire suggested with a wink.

"Whatever Cheshire, just _please _do your best not to pester me or my family, or my friend." Jefferson responded with a roll of his eyes as he turned on his heel and started back down the cobblestone pathway.

"Don't worry Cheshire; you would never be a bother." Grace expressed with a smile a she turned in her father's direction.

"Please come with us!" Henry urged as he looked down to the Cheshire who know stood as any normal cat would on the ground.

"If you insist." The grinning cat replied playfully.

They strolled down the path for another ten minutes or so all the while, making conversation with their new traveler who had taken quite a liking to Belle and chose to float most often next to or above her. They followed Jefferson as he veered slightly off the path and through a thick of shrubs. As they stepped through to the other side of the greenery they found a long dining table filled with broken and mismatched cups surrounded by a variety of multi-colored dining chairs spaced awkwardly around the table. The table was accompanied by colorful lanterns and streamers hanging from the surrounding trees, seeming just as out of place as all of the other details in the scene. Suddenly a small teacup came flying in their direction and a frantic yell that shouted, "You're late for tea!"

Jefferson, with a quick reach of his arm in front of the other travelers, swiftly caught the cup and replied all too calmly and jokingly, "Good day to you too."

The yell with a broken English accent that had thrown the cup came from an elderly man, roughly sixty, who stood at the far end of the disarrayed table with the palms of his hands planted firmly on the table standing before him. His stern look was replaced with one of curiosity and disbelief as he looked to the party standing before him as he questioned in voice a bit too high-pitched for a man of his age, "You're back?"

"Just for a visit my old friend," Jefferson replied with a genuine smile.

The man's expression now changed to one of excitement as he half-ran, half-stumbled over to Jefferson and pulled him into a hug muttering to himself with a smile, "Oh Jeff. Jeffy Hatter Jefferson. Oh dear Jeffers. Me old friend is back for a visit!"

The man skipped around in a circle as Jefferson awkwardly hugged back then Mister Hare jerked back with his hands now on Jefferson's shoulder and shouted far too loudly for the close proximity of his guests, "Oh please, sit down! Sit, down!"

The man gestured towards the table, allowing his visitors to walk past him but warned with a worried look taking over his face, "Oh but please, do not take my seat! I rather enjoy _my _seat!"

Belle slowly followed as Jefferson took a seat in an ornate, bright pink chair, taking her own seat across from him in a multi-colored simple dining table chair that had carved flamingoes as chair legs. Henry and Grace excitedly took seats opposite of one another further down the table and helped themselves to a broken teapot in between them as the Cheshire Cat vanished then appeared sitting upright, sipping at a cup of tea, at the seat on the far end of the table.

"So I'm assuming that's The March Hare…?" Belle whispered questioningly as she leaned across the table.

"Good assumption." Jefferson whispered back playfully with a smirk.

"But he is… a man, not a hare." Belle replied with growing curiosity while at the end of the table The March Hare had just shouted at Cheshire to get out of his seat but as he grabbed for him the cat disappeared in a small puff of smoke, causing the children to laugh at the man who had just fallen face-first into his chair.

"I'll let him explain that one." Jefferson teased with a quick wink before reaching for an already full cup of tea and lounging back into his chair as he crossed his legs and sipped it slowly.

"Oh yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea." The Cheshire encouraged, appearing out of thin air in the seat next to Jefferson. Belle jumped at the sudden sight of the cat but Jefferson did not flinch and Cheshire continued, now speaking loud enough for The March Hare to hear at the table's end, "I do love that tale. Please take a few moments to tell us all, March."

"Oh yes, no problem! Anything for my guests." He replied with glee as he clanked a fork dramatically against an already broken glass to get everyone's attention though their eyes were all already fixed on him. He then explained his story with great pride, beaming with excitement despite the parts of it that were rather upsetting, "So I am not sure if you are aware but there is an old tale many know of a tortoise and a hare. And well, I am that hare." He giggled at his own words and continued, "I bet the Queen I could beat her old tortoise, for I am a rather fast one, but sadly I let my cockiness get the best of me and I had lost the race. I was sentenced to work for the bloody Queen forever. I had met my old lad Jefferson long before that when he used to visit here during his younger days and we would drink tea for hours on end but once he met Alice he didn't come back until he got stuck here and his wee head was chopped off." The last comment caused Grace to wince slightly at the mention of her mother and Jefferson to wince at the mention of his beheading during his dreadful time spent here longing for Grace. "He disappeared a few months after his entrapment with the Queen but now he's back! My old friend Jefferson is back!"

"But how come you are no longer working for the Queen?" Belle questioned as she gathered her thoughts that ran a mile a minute after hearing his story.

"Oh, dear!" he exclaimed as he slapped his hands to cheeks, "Did I forget to explain that?... Well my apologies nice lady. You see, not long after Jeffy disappeared the Queen went on a rampage. She went around beheading nearly anyone she saw, even her guards, so she was left without very many of them making it too, too easy to escape."

The visitors all nodded in understanding as they pondered the story the old man had just told.

Jefferson then took the quiet moment to not so silently whisper to Belle, "If you couldn't tell, he's a bit mad."

"Oh my friend Jefferson is so, so funny!" The March Hare exclaimed as he stood himself on top of the table and walked down it, not caring about the dishware he broke along the way. He then leaned downed to whisper to his guests with a grin, "I may be mad, but we're _all_ mad here!"

Everyone but Jefferson, who sat with stern sneer, roared with laughter at The March Hare's joke. The rest of the tea party continued, after proper introductions of the guests were made, with much laughter. Much of the laughter and guffawing at tricks (unimaginable in The Enchanted Forest) came from from Henry and Grace who were fascinated by The March Hare's ability to cut dishes and cups in half in order to hold half of their normal portion without any of their contents spilling about. The Cheshire dismissed himself with a puff of smoke after he grew tired of the tea party but not before whispering to Belle how it would be a pleasure to her see her again, causing her stifle a giggle. Once Cheshire had left Jefferson noticed how long they had spent there and quickly gathered up the rest of his party and wished his old friend "farewell, for now."

They practically ran back down the path to The Looking Glass as Jefferson pushed them quickly along, not wanting to be any later then he had promised his wife they would be. Belle and Grace were the last ones to step towards the mirror and just as Belle was about to touch the glass she saw Grace turn around out of the corner of her eye.

Grace's eyes and smile grew wide as she thought of the day's wondrous events and whispered just loud enough for Belle to hear, "Goodbye Wonderland."

Belle turned around and placed a gentle hand on the young girl's shoulder as she smiled down at her and suggested, "Let's get home Grace."

Grace simply smiled back and took Belle's hand as she quickly turned and pulled the older woman through The Looking Glass into the Realm Room and through the door that led home.

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_I hope you had fun reading this slightly 'mad' chapter and enjoyed my little references to other tellings of Wonderland as well as the chipped cup and my own little spin on some of their stories! ;D If you get the chance please review but if not, thank you sooooo much for reading anyways, all of you readers are simply lovely! The next chapter is the Mad Swan reunion and some interesting news in The Charming castle so stay tuned!_


	8. I Couldn't Resist

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't.__ (Due to recent updates in "Happily Never After" I have to inform you that the Wonderland situation will be drastically different [because in my story, Regina was locked up/killed in The Enchanted Forest not sent to and stuck in Wonderland and The Looking Glass is still there as the door to Wonderland.])_

_Thank you ALL for your continued support of this story, you have no idea what it means to me! Thank you to anyone who has read and especially to those who review, favorite, and follow! :]] This chapter includes a lovely reunion and a bit of humor and then a somewhat unexpected twist so read on to find out and let me know what you think! Sorry if you don't like it but at some point the characters kind of start taking over and I no longer have a say in the matter so blame them! :P (And feel free to review and let me know if you loved it or hated it!)_

_A/N: In my story, Rumplestiltskin set it up so the curse was enacted 28 years before Baelfire appeared in our world therefore, Bae got there when the curse was broken. He was found not long after curse-break (the same age as when he was sent through [fourteen]) so he is now sixteen. Also, Rumple and Belle's 'true love's kiss' took away Rum's darkness but he still has all his powers just without the scale-y skin and deals and general creepiness. But don't worry he still has his quick wit and slightly dark and cryptic sense of humor that we all know and love him for. ;D Oh and please don't shoot me for attempting to write Rumbelle… I know it will never live up to any of the brilliance that has already been written and will continue to be written about them but they are one of my favorite ships so I couldn't not include them. :] (Oh and P.S. They're also married in my fic! ;D)_

* * *

**Chapter 8****: I Couldn't Resist**

Emma paced across the ten foot entrance to the dining room wringing her hands and muttering to herself. She glanced out the window and the sun was poking out just above the horizon and would be gone within minutes.

"Emma please sit down dear." Snow called from where she was waiting patiently at the table.

"You're going to end up wearing a hole in the floor sweetie." James joked with a small smile but no one laughed.

"A little worry never hurt anyone dearie." Rumplestiltskin remarked from his seat next to his son.

Snow shot Rumplestiltskin a glare as Baelfire rolled his eyes at the overwhelming tension in the room.

"She doesn't _need _to worry though. And if worrying wasn't such bad thing then why don't I see you pacing the floor?" Snow snapped.

"Who are you to say I am not worried? I was not even informed about this trip until I got here an hour ago and—"

"Please stop," Baelfire demanded, being the only sensible one in the room, as he held his hands up to silence his father and his friends' grandmother. "You do realize that fighting isn't going to ease Emma's worry or bring them back any sooner, right?"

The two adults turned away from one another with low, childish grunts of defeat as Emma stood frozen, staring out the window across the room from her where she watched the sun finally duck below the ocean. Her eyes grew wide as she stood completely still, succumbing to worry. She knew she shouldn't and that she was just being irrational but she could not help the horrible scenarios that could have caused her family to be late. What if they had been captured by the Queen? What if the hat somehow malfunctioned? What is Jefferson had some sort of breakdown? What if Henry or Grace got hurt? What if they couldn't find their way back to The Looking Glass? What if-

"Miss me princess?" Jefferson whispered in her ear causing her to jump and shriek but turn around in a flash with a look full of shock, relief, and happiness washing over her face. Jefferson quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to pick her up into his arms and swing her around as they both were overcome with pure joy and comfort at the sight of one another. He set her down as she wrapped her arms around his neck then crashed his lips to hers. She arched into him, eliminating any space between them as she deepened the kiss, too overcome with relief to think of who might be watching.

"Can you guys _please_ stop so we can give you a hug?" Henry questioned with a disgusted expression at the sight of his parents making out.

Emma shyly pulled a fraction of an inch away from Jefferson to look over to her kids who stood at a safe distance with twisted faces. She glanced quickly back to Jefferson and whispered jokingly, "Eh, I was fine without you." She pecked him on the cheek before turning away from him, to her kids, and spreading her arms wide as she called, "Get over here!"

Her two kids ran to her squeezed her as tight as they could and she returned the gesture with mutual eagerness. She bent down to their heights and asked with wide eyes and a smile, "So, how was it?"

"Amazing!" Henry exclaimed with a beaming smile.

"You wouldn't believe everything we saw and everyone we got to meet!" Grace added with a growing smile of her own.

"_Everyone_?... As in, more than _one_ person?..." Emma questioned as her brows furrowed and her lips drew back into a curious smile. Henry and Grace exchanged a quick, knowing glance with sneaky smiles as Emma continued, "I thought you were just going to see The White Rabbit…?"

Emma then shot an accusatory look up at Jefferson and he cowered as he took a step back and raised his hands in innocence. His lips pulled into a weak smile as he confessed, "I couldn't resist."

"Sure you couldn't." Emma replied as she cocked her head to the side with an unbelieving smirk pulling at the corners of her lips.

Emma stood up straight as one kid ran to each side of her and began spurting out the major details of the day.

"Whoa, calm down. You can tell me all the details soon but come on, let's eat some dinner first." Emma suggested as she began walking towards the dining table.

Henry and Grace ran to the table and took turns hugging each grandparent before dashing over to their friend, who was like an older brother to the both of them, and began informing him on all he had missed in Wonderland. Jefferson quickened his pace to reach Emma's side and catch her hand in his as he kissed the golden locks that covered the top of her head. They walked pressed to one another's side as Snow and James watched the small yet meaningful display of affection and gave each other a knowing smile.

"Oh so you're just going to leave me trailing behind without even telling me you were going to suddenly run to the castle," Belle accused as she walked through the entrance, arms crossed tightly over her chest as she shook her head in mocking distaste. "Oh," Belle squeaked as she noticed her family sitting at the table and a smile formed as she unfolded her arms, "Rum, Bae. I nearly forgot you two were coming."

Rumple quickly shot up out of his seat and attempted to casually speed-walk to his Belle but his urgency to see his wife was not as subtle as he wished it to be. He gently pulled her into a hug, touching her as though she was made of glass, asking, "Are you alright? Did you get hurt at all? Did anything go wrong? Is everything—"

Belle pulled back from him to look him in the eye and clearly stated, "I am perfectly fine. Actually, better than fine, today was so wonderful. The creatures there are unreal and fascinating like you wouldn't believe."

"Well good, good!" He conceded, finally letting the breath out that he had been holding in. He leaned down and let his lips brush past hers as he hooked one arm around her waist. He pulled away slightly and whispered in her ear as began to lead her to the table, "Next time you decide to travel to another realm could you please inform me at least a little in advance my dear?"

"Promise," she agreed with a smile as she cupped his chin and pulled his lips to hers before letting him return to his seat.

"Hi Belle." Baelfire greeted with a smile as he looked over his shoulder to his step-mother who stood just a foot behind him.

"Good evening Bae," Belle smiled back as she reached to hug Bae from behind.

Belle then gracefully sat into the chair Rumple had pulled out for her as Snow questioned with a smile, "Shall we eat?"

"Yes, _please_!" A horribly hungry Baelfire replied, eager to get eating after having had to wait an hour for the returning travelers.

Everyone let out a laugh at Bae's non-subtle eagerness to get his hands on the food then began delving into their dinner. All throughout dinner Wonderland was discussed. Henry and Grace gave every single detail of the trip and Belle added in a few thoughts of her own. Emma listened intently but many of the words passed right through her for she could not get past the fact that her family was home, completely safe, with her. Despite original protests to the trip Snow and James' interests had been piqued once they began hearing the details of the wondrous land. They even occasionally chimed in with questions, James more so than Snow, and ended up intrigued greatly by this somewhat 'mad' realm. Bae sat fascinated by the tales his friend and step-mother spun about this unknown place all the while, his father sat back in his seat making snide comments about their trip, namely about Jefferson and his past in Wonderland, causing his wife to have to scold him quite often for his rude behavior. Jefferson, for tonight, let the imp's remarks roll off his shoulder so as to not distract him from his current state of elation due to his being back with his wife, his kids being happy and satisfied, and having had an all-around safe and almost fun journey.

As dinner commenced and all were tired from a long day of travelling, Snow and James helped the wait staff with the dishes as they wished everyone a 'goodnight' and the two families parted ways, wishing 'goodnight's of their own, as they each headed off to their respective quarters.

Snow was the first to finish helping with the dish cleaning so she slowly made her way back into the dining room. She stood still for a moment, contemplating something, but then began pacing the floor and wringing her hands incessantly. She did not want to have to tell her daughter the information she knew she needed to hear. She couldn't keep it from her but she knew once she told her that she had no idea how she would react and it killed her. She felt like she knew her daughter so well and not knowing how she might respond to the news was an unbearable feeling. She did not want her to have to relive the great amount of pain she had already been through but she was a grown woman and unfortunately could not protect her child from every little sting of hurt.

"You two are so alike one another." James commented as he walked back into the dining room from the kitchen.

Snow offered a weak smile at his comment that she would have normally loved to hear. She was always ecstatic when she found similarities between her and her daughter but at this moment she was too distraught over the news she had to break to take pleasure in their common quirk.

James gently took hold of Snow's arms and looked her in the eyes with a look of understanding and mutual worry as he insisted, "I know it will be hard but she has got to know. We can't keep it from her."

Snow meekly nodded then slowly poked her head through the dining room entryway and looked out to see her wonderfully happy daughter standing in the hall with her family. She closed her eyes as to help alleviate some of her worry and James gave her hand a reassuring squeeze of comfort.

"Emma. Jefferson." Snow tentatively called to the couple standing hand-in-hand in front of their kids, joyfully kissing and hugging them goodnight. "I hope you don't mind but could I speak to you for just a minute?"

"No problem." Jefferson called back over his shoulder.

"Goodnight you two." Emma restated, pulling both of her children in for one last hug.

"Get some sleep. You've had a long day," Jefferson wished as he pulled them in for a hug of his own. "Now, you better head straight off to bed, no staying up any later tonight," he teased as he playfully swatted them away in the direction of their rooms. "Goodnight," he called out with a smile as they ran off to the staircase leading to the next floor where their rooms were.

"Goodnight," they called back over their shoulders in unison.

Emma and Jefferson turned and strolled back to the dining room with their hands still intertwined and periodically sending glances one another's way with small but love-filled smiles. They stepped into the dining room and immediately noticed the worrisome faces that wore over Snow and James.

"What's up? Are you guys okay?" Emma asked worried at the sight of her anguish-filled parents.

Snow took a step forward with James' firm grasp encircling her waist, comforting her as best he could. "Yes, yes, we're alright. It's just…" she inhaled a deep breath before finishing, "While we were away today Red was helping us handle something here at the castle."

Jefferson and Emma stood no less confused than the moment they had walked in and Emma ushered for her mother to continue, "And?..."

Snow was still hesitant but continued despite herself, "Well it was business only she could handle because of her, well, her special ability."

From that Emma drew the conclusion that it had something to do with wolves but was still confused so she questioned, "What business does the kingdom have with wolves?"

Snow let out a sigh as she finally built up the courage to finish what she needed to let it out, "Well as you know, Graham was—Oh my, Emma! Are you alright?" Snow quickly asked as she watched her daughter's eyes widen and her posture tense as her face drained of color.

Jefferson was gladder than ever that in this moment he was in such close proximity to his wife for instantly when she heard the name of the late huntsman/sheriff her knees went weak and she lost any ounce of strength she had. He caught her by the waist within a second of her arm going limp and held her close. He knew her history with the man and therefore understood why she reacted how she did to the mention of his name but merely wished there was something he could do stop her from feeling as weak as she currently did.

"Emma sweetheart," her father called to her worried.

"Emma sweetie, do you need help?" Snow cried as a fear-stricken expression crossed her face at the sight of her daughter's weak state.

"Emma, it's okay. It's okay." Jefferson soothed, whispering in her ear, as he ran his free hand up and down her side in the hopes it would comfort her.

"Go on." Emma roughly choked out of a now dry throat. She hated being coddled like this and constantly worried about but right now she would probably have fallen to the ground if it weren't for her husband's firm stance around her so she was thankful for at least that. Besides, at this point she could care less about the worry for her because her mind drifted elsewhere. Everyone had known her past with Graham and is his tragic and sudden death in her arms so they always did their best to avoid ever bringing his name up so _why in the hell were they bringing it up right now_?

Snow continued knowing any more delay of the news would only ail her daughter further though all she wanted to do was comfort her, "Well because of his connection with wolves, the one who was his 'protector' of sorts gained custody of his body once we were sent back here. Graham was never really given a proper funeral in Storybrooke so we had Red convince the wolf to let us host one for him. We owe all of our lives to him and he deserves to be properly honored. You don't have to attend but, I had to give you the option…"

Everyone closely watched Emma for a response as she took a few deep breaths and let some color slip back into her face. Finally after what seemed like an eternity of waiting she gained enough strength and sanity to stand for herself and slowly removed Jefferson's hand from their grip around her as she murmured, "I, I have to go… When is it?"

"In two days." Snow answered hesitantly. "We figured, there's no use in delaying it…"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there." She mumbled as she slowly looked around as though there was something to find but truly it was just to avoid anyone's gaze. "Sorry, but I've gotta get to bed. Goodnight," she wished as she turned and quickly made her way out the door, wanting to be alone.

Jefferson watched in agony as his wife scurried away without him. He was torn between running after her and holding her in his arms, never letting her go, or letting her be alone until she came to him. Knowing full well that his heart told him to do the first option but she would have told to do the latter.

"I'm so sorry Jefferson," Snow sincerely apologized, noticing the distraught look on Jefferson's face.

"No, no it's okay. She needed to know about it." He confirmed with a still horrified expression. "And, if it wasn't obvious I will be there as well… I owe him my wife's life and I could never pay enough respect to him." He paused to collect his thoughts then finished, "I'm sorry but I've got to go find her. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Snow called after him as he rushed out the door. Snow heaved a sigh as she looked down at her hands and pondered, "Oh, Charming. Was that the right thing to do? Did we go about it the right way?"

"Yes, of course. We couldn't have kept it from her." James soothed as he pressed his palms to her cheeks and brought her gaze up to his. "I don't ever question your judgment so neither should you."

"But did you see her face? She couldn't even bear to hear his name…" Snow added grimly, still questioning herself.

"That may be true but, it's to be expected. He was the first person, besides you, that she ever opened herself up to and he died in her arms. That has got to be harder on her than we could ever imagine. I hate knowing how hurt she is at the mere thought of him just as much as you do but we cannot protect her from everything… And unfortunately, coping with the death of a loved one is one of those things we just, have to help her get through." James added determined to take away his wife's doubts though he wanted to run after his daughter and vanquish anything that hurt her in any way just as she did. She had been through so much of her life alone, without anyone to comfort her, and it killed him to not go after her but he had faith in Jefferson being able to comfort Emma. Jefferson loved her unconditionally and there is nothing he wouldn't do for her and nothing he wouldn't be rid of if it hurt her. James gently pulled his wife by the arm and as he led her to their room he ushered, "Come on Snow, let's get to bed. We have got a _long_ day of planning ahead of us."

**Upstairs, Emma and Jefferson's Room**

By the time Jefferson arrived at his room, after checking to see if his kids were both sleeping soundly in their beds, Emma was already tucked beneath their covers. He could easily tell she wasn't asleep and was simply trying to hide but nevertheless, he played into her wishes to be thought of as asleep and as quietly as he could, he slipped off his shoes and crawled into bed. She was turned away from him but without even touching her he could feel she was lying tensely with her face pinched in mock sleep. He stared her down for a moment longer before finally breaking the silence and with concern he moved towards her and questioned, although he knew the answer, "Emma, are you alright?"

Emma let out a heavy sigh as she realized her fake slumber was not enough to fool her husband and without turning around she replied with a simple, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Lies. "Are you sure?" he questioned as he tucked an arm around her and pulled her back against his chest.

"Of course," she sniffed, refusing to let any tears out, as she lost her train of thought.

She could feel Jefferson's chest move slowly up and down as he breathed out, "You know, it's okay not to be alright." He paused, listening for any sort of response then continued, "It's understandable to feel grief."

Finally she turned to him and sat up to meet his eyes as her face filled with a mix of pain, anger, sadness, frustration, and remorse. "What? I barely knew him. Yeah sure, he was a nice guy and it's sad that he died, it's sad when anyone dies, but there's nothing we can do about it so why dwell on it?" she cried as a few frustrated tears finally slipped out. She threw her hands around in frustration as she continued and began sobbing, "I mean there's nothing we can do about the guy who sacrificed his heart to save my mother. And was only ever nice to me even when I was cold to him. And gave me a job when I wanted to stay and help out my kid. And wholeheartedly excepted me for who I was even though he barely knew me. And did nothing but try to tell me the truth and convince me that this place was real without being a total psycho about it. And the same guy, who died in _my arms_ all because I didn't believe that he really didn't have a heart. The guy who never did anything but fight for me and my family. Why should I grieve over _a guy like that_?!" she cried out through violent sobbing as tears rushed down her face, much like they had the night Graham died, and collapsed into Jefferson's chest.

Jefferson held her as close as he could whilst quieting her and whispering soothing words to comfort her, understanding full well why she would be like this. She cried for another hour or so, eventually falling asleep in his strong arms as he watched her only wanting to take away the sadness she felt.

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_So I hope you enjoyed this chapter and like where I took it even though it's upsetting. I know it's not cool that we finished on an extremely somber note (trust me I would have much rather had a happy ending and not been sobbing into my computer as I wrote it) but come on, every story has got to have a bit of drama. I wanted to tackle a tough situation that not many (if any [that I've seen]) have tackled in fics before, how Emma deals with Graham's death and her feelings for him after having moved on because she may not have known him for long but she witnessed his death, didn't even get to say goodbye, and she cared for him and no matter how thick a person is there is no way she would just forget about something like that once she had feelings for someone else. That is what the next few chapters will focus on so I'm really sorry if you don't like it. :[_


	9. You Are Such A Child

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't.__ (Due to recent updates in "Happily Never After" I have to inform you that the Wonderland situation will be drastically different [because in my story, Regina was locked up/killed in The Enchanted Forest not sent to and stuck in Wonderland and The Looking Glass is still there as the door to Wonderland.])_

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**Chapter 9****: You Are Such A Child**

Jefferson awoke to an empty bed and quickly worry washed over him. Emma would always either wake him up if she up was up before him or simply fall back asleep and he couldn't even recall the last time he had awaken without her. His wife had not been in the best state the last he was with her and did not want her to be alone. Surely _she_ wanted to be alone but after seeing her so upset last night he wouldn't have it. He quickly dressed and ran out to his room to go searching for Emma. He glanced into both Henry and Grace's rooms as he made raced down the hallway but found neither of them there so he decided to check the kitchen. He breathed a sigh of relief as he found his kids along with Baelfire happily chatting over breakfast, but he still worried where Emma was.

"Morning kids. Henry, Grace, have you seen your mother around?" He questioned with a heavy exhale of breath as he leaned up against the wall, exhausted after the running down the stairs and through the halls.

"Sorry Papa, I haven't seen her all morning." Grace replied with a frown at her father's worried appearance.

"Me neither." Henry agreed with a curious look.

"Papa, are you alright?" Grace asked with the worried expression still across her face as her brows furrowed with curiosity.

"Oh yes, don't worry about me sweetheart. Just searching for Emma is all…" he explained, his voice trailing off as he tried to think of where else she might be.

"I haven't seen her but I think Belle and my father are down the hall. You could try asking them if they have seen Emma." Bae suggested with a warm smile.

"Thank you Bae, I think I'll do that." Jefferson graciously replied as he spun on his heel and paced down the hallway to the dining room.

As he rounded the corner that led into the dining room he ran straight into Belle's shoulder. "I'm so sorry," he apologized, laying a hand comfortingly on her the shoulder he had just bumped into causing Rumple who stood on her other side to grimace at him.

"Oh, it's alright," Belle soothed, "no need to apologize."

"What do you mean 'no need'? He bumped into you; of course he needs to apologize!" Rumple refuted.

"Shush!" Belle quieted him as she turned to him quickly then back to Jefferson, "Don't mind him," she continued, rolling her eyes, "was there something you wanted?"

"Yes, I was wondering if you've seen Emma this morning…?" Jefferson questioned with hope that they might know her whereabouts.

"I'm sorry Jefferson but I haven't seen her since last night. Have you Rum?" Belle apologized sincerely, turning to Rumple.

"Well I did hear this morning that she sorting out something with her mother and father, maybe you should check their council room." He explained, rolling his eyes knowing that he had to explain the truth otherwise Belle would have seen right through him if he lied about what he had heard.

"Thank you." Jefferson quickly replied as he dashed off to the stairs leading up to the meeting room.

"Worried little Hatter isn't he?" Rumple quipped as he looped one arm through Belle's.

"Oh be nice," she scolded as she swatted at his chest, "You know, you really should be a little nicer to him; he has never been anything but kind to you."

"You see dearie, _nice_ isn't really my thing." He stated as he leaned down to her and softly pressed his lips to hers.

"Sure, sure; whatever you say." She laughed, pulling back with a small roll of her eyes.

**The Council Room**

"Emma you don't have to help us with this," James sighed as he looked to his daughter across the table.

"It's okay, I want to." She replied flatly.

"Why don't you spend the day with Jefferson and the kids?" James suggested with a quick glance to his wife for help in the matter, "You missed spending the day with them yesterday for business, you deserve some time with them."

"No, I've still got more to do so I need to take care of it before it all piles up." Emma stated, determined to take on as much work as she could so she would be able to distract herself.

"Sweetheart, since when were you so willing to overwhelm yourself with duties? You have never refused to do them but I have never seen you wanting to take on so many at once…" Snow questioned, hoping to deter Emma's unusual request for a workload that would normally last her weeks.

"I know I need to take on more responsibilities so I figured, why not start now?"

"And that's wonderful Emma but you don't have to start today after working all yesterday and not traveling with your family." Snow suggested, easily seeing through Emma's lie.

"Look you guys I'm fine, I can handle this. Now just let me take this paperwork and get to it."

Suddenly they all turned at the sound of a knock coming from the doorway.

"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt, I was just looking for Emma since I haven't seen her this morning." Jefferson stated, shyly poking his head through the grand entrance.

"Oh no problem at all Jefferson, please come in!" Snow eagerly ushered, in the hopes that him being there would be enough to convince Emma not to take on the absurd workload.

"Morning princess," Jefferson greeted with a warm smile as he cautiously approached Emma who was avoiding his gaze.

"Morning." She replied grimly with a weak, almost forced smile.

"Why don't you come down and have breakfast with Bae, Henry, Grace, and I?" he questioned, offering his hand out to her.

Emma gingerly took it and stood up but still didn't look him in the eye as she replied, "I'm sorry but I've got loads of work to do today. I don't really have any time for anything else."

"Oh, well, I could stay with you and help you. Or maybe you could just—"

"No, no. You go have fun with the kids," she stated, cutting him off, "You spend some time with them. I've got a lot of work to do and I don't want to bother you with it"

"But Emma—" he called to her, reaching a hand to her shoulder as she turned.

She brushed it off frantically with a swipe of her hand then quickly gathered a pile of papers, mumbling, "I've got work to do and I uh, have to start now if I want to get it done. Sorry, um, I'll see you later." She took the mess of papers in her arms as she rushed past the table and into her father's office at the back of the room as she slammed the door quickly behind her.

James, Snow, and Jefferson all stood with jaws dropped at Emma's actions. They shifted uneasily in their spots during an awkward silence until Snow questioned what she had already assumed, "She's not taking it well is she?"

"I'm afraid not." Jefferson dryly stated, still baffled by his wife's previous actions.

"I'm sure she'll come around." Snow suggested with a weak smile. "Try not to worry about her. We'll do our best to make sure she's okay."

"Please do." He replied as his voice grew softer, weakened by his wife's unwillingness to be with him.

"I'm sorry Jefferson" James apologized as Jefferson let his shoulders slump in defeat. James could tell how much it hurt Jefferson that Emma did not want to be with him and was truly sorry he couldn't change how his daughter was reacting to the news they had broken to her last night.

"Yeah, I am too." Jefferson stated as he slowly turned and walked out into the hallway. He wandered aimlessly around the castle for an hour or so, unsure of what to do. Eventually he decided to seek out advice from anybody he could find, hoping that he would stumble upon someone sensible. He first ran into Dopey strolling through the halls but dismissed him with a quick nod of his head not wanting to confide in the dwarf who although was extremely kind was likely not very great at advice giving. To his luck (though he hadn't had much that day) he eventually found Belle sitting in the library on the couch-like cushion that sat between two bookshelves and led to a window that extended up to the high ceiling. He slowly made his way in and cleared his throat to get her attention without startling her too much.

The slight cough didn't even faze her as she merely shot a finger up to quiet whoever her visitor was so she could finish the page she was on. She sat still with her back pressed against a bookshelf, legs crossed in front of her with the book lying open on her lap and her gaze focused on the book until she finished the last sentence then gently closed it as she looked over to her new visitor. Her eyes widened with delight at the sight of Jefferson and greeted, "Oh Jefferson, please do sit down."

Jefferson slowly made his way into the chair just a few feet away from the windowsill and slumped into its plush, velvety arms. "So, where are the kids?" Jefferson shyly asked, attempting to slowly work his way to the topic he _really_ wanted to discuss.

"Well Henry and Grace wanted to show Rumple and Bae some of the decorations that were still left up from Easter in the garden so they are likely still out there with him," she explained but noticed the somber expression on his face and questioned with furrowed brows, "but that's not what you want to talk about, is it?"

"No," he admitted, shyly looking up to meet her curious gaze, "It's just, Emma…"

"And how's she reacting to Graham being brought up again?" Belle finished as her one eyebrow raised in suspicion, knowing that her thoughts were correct.

"Yeah… how did you hear about it?"

"Snow and James told us this morning when we woke up… and from that pitiful look on your face, I take it Emma's not handling it well…?"

"Not well at all! I completely understand why she is upset but I don't understand why she won't talk to me, or anyone for that matter. All I want to be able to do is comfort her and help her but she's treating me as though I would only hurt her more." Jefferson exclaimed as threw his hands in the air, defeated.

"Well, Emma is a person who has had walls up her entire life," Belle explained leaning forward as she rested her hands atop the book in her lap and turned to fully face Jefferson, "and those walls only started to come down once Henry came back into her life and brought her to Storybrooke. Those walls may have been broken down for a long while now but they are very easy to build again. She originally built those walls to keep out anything from hurting her but I'm afraid the mention of Graham's unfortunate and sudden death has likely started them to be built up again." She paused, noticing Jefferson intently listening to her every word then continued, "She cared for him and let down her walls down for him then he died in her arms… none of us can ever even imagine what that must have done to her. The fact that she has to deal with it again is likely hurting her and the only way she knows how to deal with hurt is by putting up a wall. It's not that she thinks you're going to hurt her more but the wall is simply prevent her from letting anyone in, in fear that they will be broken down again and she will have to face the hurt. She still loves you and no mental wall will ever prevent that love but sometimes it will unintentionally push it away. I know you don't want to hear this but if she wants some time alone then you need to give it to her or the walls will only get stronger. Let her be and let her try to break down the wall herself, but only for a short time because she will need you soon enough, even if she does not want to admit it. Emma is so strong so you don't need to worry about her as much as you do, I promise." Jefferson opened his mouth to interject and explain that he only ever does it to help her but Belle instantly noticed and shot a hand out to halt his protest as she finished with a small chuckle, "I _know _you only smother her because you love her and I do not deny that it is incredibly sweet, but as a woman who has a husband of her own who is sometimes slightly overbearing I have to tell you that we are okay without you every once in a while. Let her work through it for at least a few hours then go to her. She needs a while to breath and let it all sink in and try to sort out her feelings for herself, so let her have a little time."

"Fine…" Jefferson agreed as he sank further into the chair and a pout formed on his lips.

"Oh goodness, you look as though you were just defeated in a war." Belle quipped, playfully laughing at his personal pity party, "Trust me, she wants to be with you she just doesn't know it yet. Give her a chance to figure it out."

"What if she never figures it out and stays hidden behind her walls forever?" Jefferson questioned urgently.

"Well if that happens then I say you have full permission to bother her until she opens up… but I promise, it won't come to that!" Belle added with a smile.

"Well exactly how long is it going to take?" He asked meagerly, his pout reforming.

"You nor I nor anyone could really say for sure. It may be a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks but trust me, she will come to you." She stood up and started to walk past him as she chided, playfully patting his shoulder, "I honestly don't know how she deals with you, you are such a child. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself and come help me prepare lunch for everyone."

Jefferson simply groaned as he pushed against the sides of the chair and lazily made his out of it. They walked to the kitchen and Belle dismissed the chef letting him know that she would handle lunch for the day as she began to pull out the makings for the sandwiches she knew were each person's favorites. Jefferson groaned and shuffled around the kitchen, following whatever orders Belle gave him as they both did their best to distract him from his current situation with Emma. After an hour of making everyone in the castle's sandwiches they gathered all of them along with a few bowls of sliced fruit into a hand-woven picnic basket and made their way to the garden. They ate lunch with Henry, Grace, Bae, and Rumple at one of the tables that sat amidst that sea of flowers and decorations that was the garden. As they finished Belle stood up and declared, "Well that was lovely but I must be off to deliver everyone else's lunch to them, if anyone would like to join me…?"

"Well if I could, I'll take Emma's up to her…" Jefferson shyly suggested.

"Of course," Belle smiled with understanding as she reached into the basket, "And you might as well take Snow's and James' while you're at it, so here you go."

"Thank you," he replied, smiling at the thought of hopefully getting to see his wife.

"I'd love to come with you Belle." Grace replied excitedly, stepping over to Belle's side.

"Well thank you Grace. Your help will be much appreciated." Belle thanked with a warm smile.

"As nice as that sounds I think I will take the boys out to the stables and we'll go for a ride through the forest." Rumple suggested looking down to Henry and Bae.

"Sounds awesome!" Henry exclaimed with a wide grin as he looked to his older friend smiling back at him.

"Be back before sundown." Jefferson sternly ordered to Rumple.

"As you wish, your majesty." Rumple replied with a mock bow and a wave of his hand.

"Have fun Henry," he wished with a smile as he pulled his son in for a quick hug. "You too Grace," he added, pulling his daughter to him, giving them both a tight squeeze.

"Thanks," they muttered through forced breaths for their father was squeezing them too tight and they could hardly breathe.

Jefferson laughed at their weak thank you's as Henry pulled away and added with his smile fully reforming, "Tell mom, if she gets the chance she should come down and ride with us."

"No problem Henry. Of course I will." Jefferson agreed before quickly turning on his heel and nearly running back to the castle. After making his way up the numerous flights of stairs and long corridors he finally got to the council room and found Snow and James sitting next to one another with a mess of papers lying out in front of them.

He slowly walked in, holding up the sandwiches and greeted with a small smile, "I brought lunch."

Snow looked up from the paperwork and smiled, "Oh thank you Jefferson."

"Just in time, I was getting starving." James added with an equally grateful smile.

Jefferson handed the two of them their sandwiches and slowly sat down in a chair a few seats down from Snow. As they began biting into their sandwiches Jefferson glanced over to the doorway that lead to James' office and questioned, "Is she still in there?"

"Unfortunately yes," Snow replied with a somber expression.

"Have either of you been able to talk to her?"

"Well I was able to get a bit out of her earlier but nothing more than that she wants to be distracted and does not wish to talk to anyone," Snow grimly explained. "I'll try to go bring her, her sandwich and you may be able to sneak your way in with me," she added with a slight smile.

"Could you?..." Jefferson asked sheepishly.

"Of course," Snow smiled as she rose from her seat and took her daughter's sandwich from Jefferson as he followed slowly at a safe distance behind her.

Snow gently knocked on the door then peaked her head in and offered, "I have your lunch here if you want it."

"Sorry, not hungry." Emma replied, all too quickly.

"Come on, it's pastrami on rye." Snow smiled, slightly waving the wrapped sandwich in the air for her daughter to see.

"That's okay, I'll eat it later." Emma instantly replied, glancing up for a split second this time.

Snow frowned as she backed out of the room and looked back to Jefferson gingerly. "I'm sorry," she apologized handing the sandwich back to him, "I tried…"

"It's okay," Jefferson lied as he took the sandwich back and trudged back to the seat he had just been sitting in.

"You can try waiting around and see if she comes out… She has to get hungry eventually so I'm sure it wouldn't hurt." Snow shrugged with a weak smile as she sat back down to continue eating her lunch.

Jefferson took Snow's suggestion and sat, waiting for hours upon hours, occasionally chiming into Snow and James' heated discussions on kingdom business but mostly staring at down at his hands in his lap or the sandwich sitting in front of him, mocking him incessantly. He was tempted so many times to grab the sandwich, bust through the office door, and demand that Emma talk with him but whenever the thought came about so did Belle's advice from earlier. "Let her have a little time" kept repeating in his head as he would force himself to stay in his seat at the table.

After about five hours of Jefferson waiting with them and deciding on kingdom matters with James, Snow glanced out the stained glass window and noticed the sun was setting and remarked, "Whoa, it is getting late. I think we should try to finish up and head down to dinner."

Jefferson snapped out of his thoughts as he remembered the promise Rumplestiltskin had made him earlier and turned to Snow asking, "Would you make sure for me that Rumple and Bae are back with Henry? He promised they would be back now."

"Of course," James replied for Snow as he separated the currently sprawled-about papers into a couple, neat piles.

"I'll stay here a little while longer and see if she finally realizes she's hungry." Jefferson explained with a forced smile.

Snow and James each took a stack of papers then headed out of the room as Snow handed hers off to a messenger and James laid his on a shelf in the corner. Jefferson watched them leave then taking the opportunity and not willing to wait any longer, for he knew Emma _had _to be starving at this point and he didn't want her suffering just because of her stubbornness, he stood from his seat and quietly made his way to the office door. Just as he reached his hand out to push open the door it swung open in his direction, hitting him square in the side of his face, causing him to stumble back and clasp his hands to his cheek as he groaned in pain.

Emma whipped her head in the direction of the mumbled cursing, noticing that it came from her husband and quickly rushed his side, apologizing, "Oh god, Jefferson. Crap! I'm so sorry." She cupped one hand over his hands that were covering the injured cheek and brought his face up to hers and apologized again weakly, "Sorry, I didn't realize you were there."

Jefferson removed his hands from his now red and slightly-swollen face to look up at his face and take her hand that had been covering his and reply softly, "No, no, it's okay. I should have knocked." He couldn't help the large smile from spilling across his face at the touch of his wife's soft, delicate yet warm hand. "Did you finally finish your work?" he asked still grinning at her touch.

"More like I finally looked up from my work for a second once I realized my stomach was likely to start eating me if I didn't eat something soon," she replied with a small smile and a roll of her eyes.

She glanced down to her hand then up to grinning husband as a serious look overcame her and she pulled back slightly to notice the sandwich sitting on the table, "I heard there was a sandwich with my name on it waiting for me."

Jefferson's arms fell limp to his sides as his wife pulled her hand from his grasp and walked with her head down towards the table in the center of the room. He had almost convinced himself that she was ready to talk to him but then she just _had _to pull away… UGH, why did giving her some space have to be so damn difficult? Regaining some sensible thought Jefferson shyly suggested, "Why don't you come down and eat dinner with everyone else?"

"No thanks, I'll just eat my sandwich while I try to finish my work." Emma responded blankly, grabbing the sandwich and heading back to the office.

"Well I'll stay here and wait for you just in case you change your mind," Jefferson quickly responded.

"Oh, uh, you don't have to do that. I don't want you to starve too."

"I want to." Jefferson replied seriously as he turned to look lovingly into her gaze, from over her shoulder, in the eyes.

In that moment she was nearly tempted to invite him in and have him sit with her and share the sandwich and spend the night together as he held her in his arms and everything would be alright as he soothed her to sleep and she would forget about everything she was trying to distract herself from but she knew that if she did it would more than likely have the opposite effect and she would end up breaking down again and she did _not _want that happening again. So she simply turned around quickly and shut the door leaving a yet again defeated Jefferson in her trail. He let out a heavy sigh and slid back into the chair he had been sitting in _all_ day and continued waiting.

**The Dining Room, After Dinner **

"Goodnight," Snow wished, waving to her guests as they exited the room. "Henry, Grace, why don't you two help me with the dishes…?"

Henry let out a sigh a sigh as Grace mumbled a complaint to herself as they dragged their feet back to the table and began to pick up the plates.

"Oh come on!" Snow cried in shock, "You two are acting as though I just asked you to clean all the castle windows. Now put some smiles on your faces and please try to be a little more enthusiastic. Helping out can't be _that_ bad."

Henry and Grace turned to her and gave her two large, terribly fake cheesecake grins in a pitiful attempt to appease their grandmother.

"_Much_ better," she laughed as they walked towards the kitchen, dishware in tow.

After cleaning the dishes and a small splash fight between the trio, Snow made each of her grandchildren a cup of hot chocolate with cinnamon and sat down at the small table meant for the kitchen staff to eat at during their breaks.

"Thank you two for being good, little helpers tonight." Snow thanked with a grateful smile.

'You're welcome." They replied in between sips of their cocoa.

Snow waited a moment longer before taking in a deep breath and began explaining to her grandchildren, "So I'm not sure if you kids remember but back in Storybrooke before Emma was the sheriff there was Sheriff Graham…"

Grace's face grew serious as she recalled the sheriff she had seen occasionally around town and heard of his sudden death which was later explained to her to be the work of The Evil Queen. Henry's face pinched in anguish at the memory of Sheriff Graham's death at the hands of his adoptive mother. The man had always been so nice to him and didn't deserve to die when he did.

"…He died there but since he never truly got a proper burial we are holding a funeral for him tomorrow and your grandfather and I as well as your parents would greatly appreciate it if you came." Snow finished with a serious yet comforting expression.

"Yes, of course." Grace nodded weakly as she took her last sip of hot chocolate.

"Yeah, wouldn't miss it." Henry added as he let his mind drift back to his memories of the late sheriff.

"Alright, why don't you kids get some sleep so you can be ready early enough in the morning?" Snow suggested as she took their mugs from them and reached to set them into the sink across from her.

The kids mumbled complaints as they slowly got out of their seats and slowly walked back to their rooms.

"How'd they take it?" James questioned from the doorway.

"Okay I guess. I could tell Henry was rather upset though which I guess was expected…" Snow said letting her voice drift off then remembered where she had sent her husband off to and questioned, "What were they up to?"

"Well Jefferson is asleep in the same chair we left him in," James explained, laughing, "and Emma is still slaving over work but she is probably going to pass out anytime now."

"Oh goodness, should we wake him?" Snow smiled up at him, laughing as she took hold of his hands.

"Probably," he laughed with her rolling his eyes, "but he would probably just end up staying there and falling back to sleep so I'm not so sure we should."

"You make a good point," Snow considered, looking past him thinking about it, then laughed again, "You're right; I guess we'll let him sleep."

**Henry's Room**

"So what was he like?" Grace questioned, sitting cross-legged on her brother's bed across from him, genuinely curious about the man whose funeral she was attending the next day, "I had seen him around town back in Storybrooke but I never knew him. And papa only ever told me not to talk about him around Emma."

"Well I knew him my whole life and he was one of few people who were really ever nice to me. I barely knew him but he always seemed kind of sad like he was missing something until mom came to town. Then I know one night they kissed and he started remembering his life here. I'm not sure if he ever fully remembered but I know that the same day he came to me and asked me for help in figuring out who he was, was the same day he died." Henry explained as his expression grew remorseful and he let his gaze drift to his hands, "All I can remember after that is mom being really upset for a while. I figured she at least cared for him since she was so sad when he was killed."

Grace nodded in understanding then questioned again, "Who was he here?"

"Oh, he was The Huntsman. He was raised by wolves because his parents abandoned him as a baby and when he was older he made a deal with The Evil Queen and said if she outlawed the hunting of wolves then he would kill Snow White and take her heart for her. But when he went to kill Snow he saw the goodness in her and spared her life. He tried to trick the Queen by giving her a fake heart but she realized it was a fake then took his heart right from him chest and kept him as her slave." Henry explained as his sadness for the late huntsman grew.

She continued nodding and added somberly, "I wish I knew him. He sounds like a pretty good guy."

"Yeah, he was." Henry assured his sister as he filled with remorse, wondering if there was something he could have done differently that would have saved the poor huntsman who was basically the reason he was alive.

**The Council Room, In The Middle Of The Morning**

Jefferson stirred awake dazed and confused, lifting his head up from where it had rest on his arms on the polished, wooden table. He felt around him not recognizing the surroundings but then slowly sat up and realized he had fallen asleep at the table in the council room. He pushed his chair away from the table then, remembering why it was that he had fallen asleep there, he tiredly made his way to the office door and was surprised to find Emma sound asleep with her head and arms sprawled lazily on top of the desk. He awoke himself fully so he would be able bring Emma back to their room. He wedged his arms beneath her and pulled her up tightly against his chest.

She fidgeted slightly in his arms and moaned as he walked out of the office and he feared he had woken her up. He sighed with relief as she settled into his arms simply curling up further to him. He carried her down four flights of stairs before finally reaching their floor and bringing her to their room. He then gently released her from his arms and laid her down on their bed. He slowly took off her boots, setting them beside the bed, and tucked her under the sheets, planting a gentle kiss to her forehead. He removed his own shoes then and quietly slipped under the covers and carefully took hold of his wife. She began to squirm again and yet again he feared she had woken up but instead of waking up she simply flipped onto her opposite side, now facing Jefferson, and nuzzled herself into his chest. Jefferson held her close as he drifted to sleep with a smile spread across his face, happy that his wife was back in his arms.

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_So I hope you don't mind that this chapter ended up just a bit long… :P I honestly thought it was going to be rather short because I didn't think I would be able to come up with much in between stuff but the words just kept coming out and I couldn't stop! Even though there wasn't really much of any Emma and Jefferson fluff in this I hope you still enjoyed it at least a little! :]] Be sure to stay tuned for the next chapter when they hold Graham's funeral and maybe Emma will let Jefferson back in. ;D_


	10. He Will Forever Be Remembered As A Hero

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_Thank you all sooooo much for continuing to review and favorite and follow, it truly means the world to me! Anytime I get another email from FF notifying me about someone reviewing/following/favoriting this I always smile and it honestly just means so much that you all like it! :]] I hope you continue to and I hope you enjoy all of what I have done with this! :D_

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**Chapter 10****: He Will Forever Be Remembered As A Hero**

Emma slowly opened her eyes to unexpected surroundings. She remembered falling asleep atop her stack of papers but found herself in her room, under the covers, wrapped in… what is that? Oh god, she was in Jefferson's arms! Did he really wait around for her all night? She was grateful for the warmth that currently surrounded her but she knew what today was and didn't really want him to wake up to her crying her eyes out because she was having another fit. She didn't want to leave the comfortable position she was in but knew she had to so she slid down and slowly wriggled out of his arms that unfortunately had a pretty tight grasp on her. As she pulled the last bit of her shoulders out from his arms she slithered out of bed with a sigh of relief.

She tip-toed across the room in an attempt to find her outfit for today and just as she was closing the drawer she pulled her dress from, she must have shut it too quickly for the end of the dress got stuck. She cursed herself for rushing but quickly tried to manage a way to silently pull it out. She first tried to tug ever so slightly on the dress but it would not budge. Then she gave a quick tug on the drawer but it was stuck too. She yanked harder and harder and she must have gotten pretty frustrated because once it finally let the loose, the whole drawer came flying out and slammed to the floor, leaving its contents sprawled across the stone tiling.

Jefferson shot up in bed and frantically gripped at the sheets around him as his head shot back and forth, searching for the source of the crash. He noticed a now-kneeling Emma on the ground and the discarded drawer and clothes and frantically asked, "Emma, are you okay?"

She looked past her shoulder at him weakly and apologized in a quiet voice, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I'm sorry… I didn't mean to wake you up."

Jefferson sighed a breath of relief as he climbed out of bed and went to join his wife on the floor, "No, no it's okay. I needed to get up soon anyways." He quickly scanned the clothes surrounding his wife and questioned with a smirk, "What in the world were you doing?"

"Oh nothing, just wrestling with the furniture, no biggie…" She replied with a small laugh, earning a smile at her from her husband.

Jefferson had hoped his wife would wake up fully open and ready to welcome him back but given how she woke up without waking him again and her current withdrawn posture he assumed she unfortunately wasn't there yet. _Give her some space, she needs space. _He kept telling himself to resist the urge to sit side-by-side with his beautiful wife and playfully throw some clothing at her or mock her clumsiness and ending up in some sort of play-fight that would make her smile that stunning smile and laugh that heavenly laugh of hers. His internal battle was won out by Belle's advice from yesterday so he sat a few feet away from her and silently helped her gather up the clothes and place them back in the drawer.

As Jefferson wedged the drawer back into its respective space in the dresser Emma grabbed her dress and quickly dismissed him, remarking, "I'm gonna go get ready."

"Okay," he answered with a frown. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Yeah, sure." She replied quickly, scurrying to the bathroom.

He lazily undressed out of his current clothing and put on a pair of black pants, borrowed from James (since most of his own were either leather or not black), a gray undershirt, and a black overcoat that ran down to his knees. After he was dressed he went to check on his kids and their progress on getting ready. He found Grace all dressed in her floor-length black dress with lace half-sleeves reading a book to pass the time and claiming she was too distracted to eat breakfast. He found Henry nearly ready but struggling to pull on his black suede jacket.

Jefferson gave a small laugh at his son's predicament causing Henry to playfully snap at him, "Hey, I'd like to see you try and get this thing on."

To that Jefferson simply apologized and effectively helped his son into the jacket. Once they both decided they were ready to leave they made their way to the kitchen and took a few small breakfast items to bring back to Emma and Grace. They solemnly greeted Snow and James who were finishing their breakfast and explained that they were nearly ready and just needed to get 'their girls' to eat something first.

Once they had brought the food back to their floor, it took some convincing but Grace finally downed a biscuit and a glass of milk. Jefferson then made sure they were both fully prepared before ushering them downstairs to wait for him and Emma.

He quietly walked back into his room and his eyes searched for Emma but he found nothing. It wasn't until he heard a rustling from the bathroom that he believed she was actually still in there. He then proceeded to call out, "Emma, are you ready?"

Sniffling back a few muffled tears she replied quietly, "Yeah, hold on."

She walked out of the bathroom as she reached behind her, pinning her hair up in a tight bun. She hid her face behind her arms as she reached around herself to fasten her hair then turned away as she reached to put on a necklace.

"Here. Why don't you eat something really quick?" he asked, tentatively handing her a muffin and mug of coffee.

"Sure." She quickly snapped, grabbing the muffin and snagging a quick bite of it before taking a sip of the coffee. She then slammed down the food onto her dresser and rushed for the door just as frantically as she had been when she had walked out of the bathroom, still keeping him from seeing her face. She was suddenly halted though, by Jefferson grasping at her shoulders.

He hadn't grabbed her violently, it was merely to stop her frantic pacing about, but she struggled in his arms trying to wrench herself free, grunting, "Jefferson, let go of me. We, we have to go."

Jefferson kept his grip on her and slowly approached, ever so slightly loosening his hold on her. She still struggled but he leaned down to her ear and whispered, pleading with her, "Emma, please… just calm down. Take a second and breathe."

She pushed against his grasp a few moments longer but then slumped in defeat, letting out a sigh and a few muffled sobs as she nearly fell back into him. He firmly held her weak form upright but just as he pulled her back into him she regained her strength and stiffened. Her slightly red and puffy eyes then turned around to look up to him abruptly and she whispered, "We've gotta go."

She turned on her heel and at a steady pace, headed out of the room as Jefferson trailed behind. Once they came to the foyer she went straight to her parents' sides. James soothingly ran his hand up and down her side as Snow took Emma's hand and held it with both of hers. Jefferson took the opportunity to make sure his kids were down there with them and once he found them, greet a few of their guests as they filed into the room. Once everyone had gathered James explained to the group that they would be led out to the forest and that is where the memorial would be held.

They opened the large doors to the bridge as sunlight came bursting into the room causing many to shield their eyes as they adjusted to the bright light. The procession consisting of The Charming family, Gepetto's family, Red and Granny, the seven dwarves, Rumplestilskin's family, and several knights accompanied by their families then marched slowly across the bridge from the castle leading to where the forest was, their heads hung down in respect. At the forefront of the silent crowd Snow and James led with Jefferson and Emma drifting a few feet apart, not far behind.

Jefferson glanced to his wife and could barely stand the sight of her so upset; tears were already slipping down her face again and onto her dress. He took a chance and closed the distance between them, now walking against her side, and slowly reached his hand for hers. It seemed like forever as it floated by her side, waiting for her to reach out to him. He cursed himself internally for thinking that she would want to be comforted by his touch. And to top it off, he probably had just made the situation between them worse by disregarding her need for space. Suddenly, he felt a hand clasp his tightly and grip it for dear life. He had to do a triple-take before he convinced himself he hadn't just imagined it. But he hadn't and she now continued crying but even harder though she felt the slightest bit at ease with Jefferson's hand now intertwined with hers.

Jefferson pulled a handkerchief out his coat pocket with his free hand and gingerly reached across them to gently wipe her eyes. She gave his hand a slight squeeze in thanks but shook her head for the tears had not stopped falling. Henry, walking just a few feet behind his parents, noticed his mother distraught form then his mind flooded with wonderful memories of time spent with sheriff. As each old, fond memory came back to him he grew more upset knowing that this poor man was gone and Henry's form now mirrored his mother's as he begun to feel tears sting his cheeks. It was then that Grace grew worried for her brother and instinctively grabbed his hand. He looked to her with red eyes and she was overcome with sadness as well. She truly wished she had known this wonderful man that her family so sorrowfully wept over.

They reached the edge of the forest but by then the sky had changed drastically. It was almost as though the weather sensed the somber mood amongst the crowd and grayed as their feelings did. Not far into the forest they were met by Graham's wolf standing at the head of the plot and a few of their servicemen waiting with Graham's coffin. They waited a few more minutes to be joined by Abigail's family, Ella's family, Giselle's family, a handful of fairies, and a concealed pack of wolves.

The large crowd assembled around the plot in the ground as a group of a few dozen knights assembled into their positions. The leader of their army called for the groups of knights, who stood in two equally divided rows, to withdraw their swords. Their swords rang as they were pulled from the scabbards attached to their belts and shot up into the air. Each knight crossed swords with the knight across from themselves and looked up to their respective sword, forming a bridge between the two lines of men. The servicemen pulled up Graham's coffin and slowly marched through the bridge of swords as the funeral march was played by a small band standing just past the soldiers.

Graham's pack of wolves lurked from beyond the bushes but their sorrow was felt all the same. They hung their heads just as low as the humans and murmured whimpers could almost be heard through the thick of trees separating the two parties.

The servicemen gently laid the coffin next to the plot as they tied a rope to each end of it. The men then picked up the coffin again to place it over the grave and gently lowered it into the deep hole. Snow then took a few steps forward to stand behind the headstone, wiping back a few tears, before silencing the band to begin her eulogy.

James joined her at her side once he noticed that she was breathing heavily and not speaking. He wrapped one arm around her waist and urged her to speak then she cleared her throat and started speaking slowly, "The Huntsman, or better yet, Graham, as most of us knew him, was an honorable man. He had the bravery and heart of a knight though he had no training to speak of. He was given up as an infant and raised with respect and honor by a brave pack of wolves. He saw humans to have no honor but once he found the goodness in them it was too late and he sacrificed his own heart for my own. I could never even begin to give even thanks or praise to him for his sacrifice… He served as a trusted and respected officer in Storybrooke and was finally given the opportunity to associate with other humans and, even make friends. He opened up and although he existed with no heart, it was as though he did for he was kind and giving and loving too." She paused for a moment as she heard her daughter choke back a sob but then continued remorsefully, sniffling back tears of her own "He was a wonderful man who did not deserve in any manner to die the way he did. But even so, he died in a valiant effort to save us all from the curse and he will forever be remembered as a hero. His life was one we should remember forever and be grateful that he existed among us. Even if you did not know him personally, he helped to save us _all_ and I don't think there is any way we could ever pay enough respect for this man who died a martyr for all that is good."

Jefferson felt a slow trickle of warmth down his cheek as a single tear fell from his eye as he ran his arms up and down Emma's sides. He truly would be forever grateful to The Huntsman and only wished he could have thanked him in person for saving as beautiful of souls as Emma and her mother's. Nothing he could ever do would measure up to what this man had done for his inherited family and he simply thanked his lucky stars that such a man had lived to save them.

Emma unwillingly let the tears free-fall from her face onto her dress with a few splashing onto her son's head. Henry stood in front of her, clasping Emma's one hand that wrapped around him and rested on his chest, with both of his. Emma's other hand rested on her daughter's shoulder comfortingly. Both children and their mother quietly sobbed as Snow stepped from around the headstone and grabbed the shovel resting against it. She dug it into the ground, scooping up a pile of dirt then throwing it into the hole on top of Graham's coffin. James followed suit and repeated the same action then handed the shovel off to a serviceman to finish the job. Snow signaled for the band to start up again as the hole filled with dirt and the band played a song that filled everyone with great respect and remorse. Graham's wolf then stepped forward from the edge of the bushes and raised his head high as he let out a deeply sorrowful howl. The pack beyond the bushes joined in the chorus as many of the humans began to shed tears at the sight. Maybe they would never know this honorable man but it was true, he would _always_ be remembered.

**A Few Hours Later, Back At The Palace**

"Hey Emma… are you alright?" Pinnochio asked as he gently rested a hand on her shoulder and sat down next to her on the bench in the hallway.

"You do realize that you are probably the fiftieth person to ask me that, right?" she remarked, sniffling between every few words.

"Just wanted to see if I could get a _real _response out of you instead of the one everyone else has been getting," he paused as she glanced up at him shyly from under her brow as he mimicked her, "oh, I'm fine. Thank you for asking though. Your concern is very sweet."

"Come on, I didn't say that to _everyone…_" Emma replied with a small laugh.

"Hey, there's that laugh I've been missing." He said, smiling back at her and laughing with her whilst hugging her from the side with one arm.

After they calmed their friendly laughter they sat in silence staring at their laps until Pinnochio broke the silence, "You know, you should talk to Jefferson…"

"Oh, well I—"

"No, just hear me out. You haven't said a word to him for _at least_ a day and it's killing him. The only reason he's not right here smothering you right now is because he's got your kids to think about _and_ everyone keeps telling him to back off because it's better for you," he paused to check her reaction but she was still staring down blankly so he continued, "But I know you Emma and you need him right now, so let him back in. Stop turning away from him when he tries to talk to you and just talk to him like you always do because like it or not, I know you want to, so I won't give up till you do."

Emma stayed staring down but responded quietly, "The last time I talked to him I ended up crying like baby…"

"And what's so wrong with that?! You're human, you cry. You're just trying to push him away because you're too proud to admit you have weaknesses. Everyone does Emma, deal with it."

Emma merely looked up flatly, gathering her thoughts. Maybe he was right… she had to admit, she felt lonely without Jefferson and wanted him with her but didn't want to end up crying again so maybe… "Maybe you're right," Emma quietly admitted, still too proud to actually accept that she was wrong for putting her walls up.

"Oh really? What did I just hear? I'm not sure I heard you right…" Pinnochio teased although he had heard full well what Emma had just said but playfully leaned towards her, cupping his hand to his ear as though to hear her better.

"You're, right." Emma gritted out slightly louder through clenched teeth.

"That's what I thought." Pinnochio proudly admitted as he stood up with smug grin and patted her playfully on the shoulder, causing her to glare at him. He was like the older brother she'd always wanted but now regretted wanting. "Now go find him and—"

"No," Emma said quickly shooting up from her seat, "I have to get away from here for a while."

"But I thought you—"

"I did," she reassured with a nod, "but you just do me a favor and find him and tell him that I left."

"But you just said—"

"I know but he'll know that I wouldn't have made it so obvious if I didn't want him to know where I was going."

"Uh, okay… just uh, don't go too far, and stay safe."

She rolled her eyes at him assured, "I will."

Pinnochio was left slightly confused but nevertheless as Emma walked out of the palace in the opposite direction he made his way back to the dining room and slid past the lingering guests from the service to find Jefferson who was still sitting with his kids in the corner.

He motioned for Jefferson to come to him and Jefferson slowly whispered something to both of his kids before standing from his seat.

"What's going on?" Jefferson asked, curious as to why the man stood with such a baffled expression on his should-be wooden face.

"Just a few minutes ago I uh, saw Emma heading out of the castle. She said she needed to get away from here." Pinnochio replied, still confused as to why this was significant to Jefferson and how in the world he would possibly know where Emma went.

"Oh okay, thanks for letting me know." Jefferson replied quickly before letting it sink in. But then he thought Pinnochio's words over for a second… If Emma had really wanted to get away without anyone knowing she would have easily done so but she let him see her, why? She knew that of anyone, especially her friend, would tell Jefferson so what kind of game was she trying to play here? Could she want him to find her? Was this her cryptic way of finally letting him back in? He decided the answer to his own questions was a 'yes', half because he was usually right when it came to figuring out Emma and half because he simply wanted 'yes' to be the right answer and to finally be able to actually be with his wife again.

He didn't leave without first making sure Henry and Grace were alright without him then leaving them with Snow and James just in case. He explained to them that he was off to find Emma and they completely understood so within minutes he was out the door and knew exactly where to go. There was only one place away from the castle they both truly felt safe in and only one place just the two of them knew about. It took around ten minutes for him to reach the clearing, almost sprinting there, and as he stepped through the thick of trees he was overcome with worry.

Everything within the meadow was relatively open and would reveal anything within it but he couldn't see Emma anywhere. Had he been wrong in his deduction? Did she really not want to see him and he had just been hoping too much? Did she get lost? Was she hurt somewhere? What if she never even left the castle and just said she was? She would be the person to do something like that to throw them off her trail. Dammit. Why hadn't he thought of that? He thought he knew his wife so well but he got cocky and took his first assumption and ran with it? What a fool he was!

He strolled slowly over to the log by the pond and slumped down onto it and threw his head into his hands in defeat, shaking it in distaste at his own stupidity.

"What did you do, run here?"

The second Jefferson heard that heavenly voice he whipped his head around and his worry vanished. He ran to her and pulled her up into his arms, lifting her feet off the ground, hugging her, nearly squeezing the life out of her.

"Uh, hi…" Emma replied awkwardly as he set her down and he cradled her head to his chest. Emma eventually gave in and wrapped her arms around his back and rested her head against him, his pull no longer forced upon her.

She looked up into his joy-filled eyes and her eyes glinted with tears as she quietly let out, "I'm so sorry."

He reached to cup a hand on her cheek as he replied, "No, no, no, don't apologize. It's okay. You needed space."

She gave a small, tight-lipped smile at his acceptance of her stubbornness and slowly took his hand holding her cheek in both of her hands and gently brought it down from its spot. She began leading him to sit down, now leaning up against the log with his hand still in hers as she explained cautiously, "Honestly it's just that when Graham was brought up, I didn't know what to think. I, I needed to clear my thoughts… I still do. I don't even know what I feel about him. It's been two years and I still can't even comprehend that he's gone. I barely knew him but somehow, he just stuck…"

Jefferson pulled her onto his lap as a few tears spilled down her face but he wiped them away gently and replied simply, "He was a hero who basically saved your life and is the reason you were born… that's hard to forget."

"Yeah I guess… Things just happened so quickly though, I never even got a chance to sort out my feelings for him then. One second, I was staying in town the next, I got a job then, he was kissing me, and the second I finally let him in, he just, died… You know I don't even know if I loved him, it's just…"

"You cared for him, I get it." Jefferson explained.

"Yeah… I guess I did." She choked out through her sobs, turning to face Jefferson. "Am I horrible for having moved on though? I almost feel like I'm cheating on him because we were never even given a chance. I don't regret _us _but do you think he would hate me for not grieving forever…?"

"You are not horrible at all," he soothed as he brushed away her tears and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You cared about him and though I didn't know him I am certain he cared for you and anyone who truly cares for you would only want you to be happy. And if you are happy right now, with us, I'm sure he wouldn't be celebrating it but he could never be mad at you for it, I promise you that."

Emma continued sobbing but after a minute took a second to breathe and that stunning smile of hers slipped across her face through puffy eyes and a red nose as she replied, still sniffling, "Of course I'm happy with us."

At the sight of his wife's smile back upon her perfect face and that smile being for_ him_ he couldn't help but let his own smile take over his visage as he leaned towards her and gave her a gentle kiss.

They pulled back, still smiling, as Jefferson questioned, "Are you ready to go back?"

She gingerly shook her head and replied, "No, I think we should we should just stay here a little longer.

She leaned back into his chest, resting her arms on his leg as he wrapped both arms around her, smiling like a fool. They both stared off into the lake as their minds wondered but Jefferson's kept going back to the same happy thought… his wife, was back, here in his arms and smiling. She was with him and they were both happy and in this moment, that is all that mattered.

* * *

_YAY more Mad Swan cuteness! :D Hehe I hope you liked the bit more of fluff in this chapter (even though it was minimal and really only at the end)! :P I'm not too sure how much I like some of the ways I wrote things in this chapter so if you agree and think any of this was unsatisfactory PLEASE let me know and I'll see what I can revise! ;D I hope you liked it though and stay tuned for some interest occurrences to happen soon. Trust me, I think you'll be rather surprised! ;P_


	11. You Are A Wonderful Princess

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_Thank you oh so very much to everyone who keeps reading this story and sticking with it and to any new readers as well, you are all so great and your amazing support just makes me love writing this even more! :DDD Every review/follow/favorite means the world and I am beyond thankful so as a gift here is a rather fluffy chapter (at least compared to the last few parts) of "Our Wonderland"! ;D_

_A/N: This skips to two days after the day of Graham's funeral._

* * *

**Chapter 11****: You Are A Wonderful Princess**

"What in the world is that noise?" Jefferson asked with his face pinched in distaste.

"Oh, it's Graham's wolf. He's been doing that for the past few hours." Red replied with a shrug as she took another sip from her mug, elbows resting on the counter in front of her, "And pretty much all of yesterday too."

"Really? How have we not heard him 'till now?" Emma questioned with a confused look as she stood at Jefferson's side, hand intertwined with his.

"I think it's probably hard to hear up in the higher castle quarters." Red answered as she turned to set her mug in the nearest sink, dodging a member of the kitchen staff in the process.

"Do you know what he's saying? Or why he's doing it?" Emma continued as she helped Jefferson pile some breakfast food onto four separate plates.

"Well it's hard to translate since it's not a full moon but I think he is saying something about going home," she shrugged before dismissively adding, "though I could be entirely wrong, so don't take my word for it."

"That's…. odd." Emma countered as she took two of the now-full plates and placed them on the counter in front of Red.

The group suddenly turned to the kitchen doorway to see Pinnochio marching a very guilty-looking Grace and Henry into the room with one hand on each of their shoulders and remarking, "Look who I found, letting a new friend into the castle."

Emma gave a stern look to her children who had obviously done something wrong before questioning, "I thought you two were right behind us…?"

"Well we heard something outside so we decided to check it out…" Henry started.

"It was Graham's wolf and as soon as we let him in he stopped howling, so we figured it was okay…" Grace finished with a weak smile.

"You two know better than to let a wild animal in without asking." Jefferson scolded as he picked up the other two plates and placed them on the counter with a thud.

"But he's not wild, he raised Graham and he—" Henry started before being cut off by his mother.

"Look we don't have time to talk now," Emma quickly stated as she hurried Henry and Grace into the dining room with Jefferson following behind, picking up their breakfast plates, "you two have to eat and get off to school. We'll talk later."

"Come on, eat up." Jefferson added as he handed them their plates, leaving them to rush into the dining room, satisfied that they weren't punished, at least not yet.

"So did you let the wolf back out?" Emma asked curious, turning back to Pinnochio who now stood across from Red.

Then, as if on cue, Graham's wolf shyly trotted up to the doorway and whimpered as he poked his head in.

"He wouldn't go back out." Pinnochio replied with a small smile and a shrug.

"Aw, he's so sweet." Red cooed as she ran up to the wolf and kneeled down, beginning to stroke the fur atop his head.

"He may be sweet but we can't keep him here in the castle." Emma stated as she sat back in her seat and looked up in thought, not wanting to deal with this.

To that the wolf let out another whimper of sadness as he nudged his forehead into the palm of Red's hand. Pinnochio took the opportunity, with the attention turned away from him, to slip into the dining room quietly. Red perked up slightly at the wolf's gentle touch as she shyly smiled, "Well, we don't have to get rid of him _right _away."

"Yeah, I guess… but keep him out of the castle until I explain the situation to my parents." Emma complied with a grimace.

"No problem" Red exclaimed as a bright smile slipped across her face, "I'll just take him to the market with us after we drop Henry and Grace off at school."

Emma sighed as Jefferson slowly rested a soothing hand on her shoulder and handed her an extra biscuit that Henry had opted not to eat. She smiled back at him as she took his hand and he sat in the seat next to her wrapping his finger around hers.

"We better get going," Red stated turning to the wolf with smile, "Bye Jefferson, bye Emma. See you later."

They wished Red farewell in unison as they continued eating their breakfast at the small table in the corner.

"Are you helping my dad out today?" Emma questioned before shoving a piece of French toast in her mouth.

"Yeah, he wants me to help him map out the realms he hasn't been to before."

"_All_ of them?" Emma questioned curiously, with a mouthful of French toast.

"Well as I've told you there's an _infinite _amount of other worlds, so no," Jefferson explained with a small laugh at Emma's impolite speaking. "You do know that princesses shouldn't speak with their mouth full, right?" he explained with a smile before leaning over and planting a small kiss on her mouth, still full of food.

Emma dramatically chewed and swallowed before pulling back with a smile and a roll of her eyes while stating, "I never claimed to be a good princess."

"_You_ are a wonderful princess," Jefferson countered as he looked at her from under his brow, peering up from his plate, "just not when you eat."

"Very funny," Emma replied with a smirk.

"I am," Jefferson smiled before going back to their previous subject, "but anyways, what do you have planned for today?"

"I'm not really sure… I think Snow wants me to help her with something but she hasn't really told me what it is yet."

"Well whenever you're done come find me and if you can't, you know where I'll be." Jefferson explained with a wink.

"Yeah, probably right behind me, ready to pop out of thin air and scare the crap out of me." Emma snapped back playfully.

"It's not my fault you're cute when you're scared." Jefferson stated with a raise of his eyebrows as he stood to walk around Emma's chair, earning a smirk from her. "Seriously, find me later," he stated as he turned to her and leaned down to cup her chin before giving her a small kiss then pulling back to bid her farewell, " and have fun with Snow."

Emma continued leaning forward, wanting more, as he walked away and sighed to herself. She lazily gathered the dishes, rinsed them in the sink then strolled into the hallway to begin the search for her mother. She found her way to the fourth floor, where her mother's room is, and though it was visibly empty she decided to quickly search through it just in case. Just as she finished her search and went to turn the corner around the doorway she walked straight into Snow.

After a flurry of apologies from both women Snow greeted with a smile, "Oh it's alright. But I am so glad I ran into you Emma."

"Yeah me too," Emma replied with a small smile, "I was wondering what this super-secret thing is that you wanted help with."

"Oh yes, about that… It's not so much that I need your help with something but basically, I wanted you to have your day free so we could spend the day together…" Snow offered with a slight shrug and a weak yet hopeful smile.

"Sure," Emma replied with a bright smile, causing her mother to beam back at her, then quickly questioned, "but what exactly does that entail?"

"Whatever you want, I am fully open to suggestions." Snow exclaimed as her hands gave a small gesture of excitement.

"Really? You're gonna make me decide what to do?... You know I can't make decisions."

"Last I checked, as a princess, you need to make quite a few decisions and difficult ones at that." Snow mocked with a playfully stern look as she crossed her arms over her chest, sat into her hip, and raised her eyebrows.

"Sheesh, what is with all the nagging me this morning about not being a fit princess!" Emma cried jokingly, throwing her hands in the air, "Not like I disagree or anything, I just don't think I need to be reminded twenty-four, seven."

"I am just giving you a hard time Emma," Snow soothed as she unfolded her arms and gently clasped her hands just below Emma's shoulder, "you are doing a wonderful job as a princess."

"You sound like Jefferson," Emma replied with a roll of her eyes as a smile unconsciously pulled at the corners of her lips at the thought of her husband.

Snow smiled back at her daughter and suggested with a small laugh, "Anyways, back to the matter at hand… I was thinking maybe we could go riding, take a trip to the beach, _or…_"

"Or what?" Emma questioned excitedly, nearly jumping with anticipation.

"_Or_ we could maybe practice a bit of your swordsmanship…?" Snow suggested with a sly grin.

Emma's eyes brightened at the idea for she had become rather fond of sword-fighting. Contrary to the first time when she had basically been forced to use a sword to fight a dragon she had grown quite skilled at the art and enjoyed sparring with a formidable opponent. The only thing was that she rarely got to practice due to her many 'princess duties' so it was always a hobby put on the back-burner till free time came about. "Um, YES!" she squealed with excitement as she envisioned being able to freely swing her beloved yet terribly unused sword about.

"I thought you might like that idea," Snow smiled back at her daughter's eager expression as they began to walk down the hall, "but I hope you don't mind if I kick your butt."

Emma raised her eyebrows in disbelief at her mother, "Oh it is _so _on."

**Hallway Leading To The Council Room, That Afternoon/Early Evening**

Emma slowly wandered down the expansive hallway with a far-off gaze but a grateful smile as she reflected on her exciting and joyous day. She and her mother had spent two hours sword-fighting, beating one another numerous times until they were both so tired they could hardly hold the swords. After a quick rest and a small snack they rode to the marketplace to join Red and Pinnochio which led Emma to explaining why Red was walking around with Graham's wolf at her side. Snow understood the situation and agreed to let him stay in the castle as long as he stayed on the first floor, which practically made Red's day. After shopping and visiting friends who lived in town they picked up Henry and Grace from school and rode back to the castle. After helping Snow make a snack for the kids she was now off to find her husband. She loved today, it was nice to simply relax and have a good time without having to worry about the kingdom or her family or anything for that matter. A day off was what she had needed and she couldn't more thankful to her mother for realizing that and making it happen.

She strolled into the council room and noticed it was merely her father sitting alone at the table so she enquired, "Did you and Jefferson already finish?"

"Oh yes, he left an hour or so ago."

"Okay, I'll see you guys at dinner later, I'm going to head out for a little bit." Emma replied nonchalantly as she sauntered out of the room with the same grin on her face. She casually walked out of the castle and through the forest before reaching her destination. She halted though as she stepped through the clearing for she did not see her husband anywhere. She glanced in all directions before turning all the way around to find a shadowy figure just behind her.

She shrieked in fear till he took a small step forward and she realized it was Jefferson. He crossed his arms and playfully remarked with a raise of his brow, "I was beginning to think you weren't going to come."

"What in the hell is wrong with you?!" Emma cried as she punched his arm.

"Ouch! You don't need to punch me." He whined, rubbing his now red arm. "I've been waiting here for an hour completely bored, I needed a little entertainment."

"Oh so my fear is entertainment for you?" Emma questioned, crossing her arms in mock distaste. "You know one of these times you are going to scare me so bad and I'm gonna have a heart attack and you are going to regret ever wanting to freak me out!" She scolded as she wagged a finger within centimeters of his face, bringing her face close to his with a stern, angry expression covering her visage.

"I'm sorry." Jefferson apologized with a large pout as he looped his arm around Emma's waist and pulled her tightly against him.

As their faces grew closer, their foreheads pressed together and their breaths heaved as Emma attempted to sternly explain with a deep sigh, "You know saying 'I'm sorry' and kissing me is not always going to work…"

Unconvinced of his wife's declaration, Jefferson leaned into her ever so slightly and caught his lips in hers. He reached his free hand to grab hold of a small mess of her hair and pull it in front of her shoulder as he pulled away just an inch, leaving her breathing heavily, as he teased, "Yes it is."

Still too dazed from the kiss to have collected herself, Jefferson took hold of Emma's hand walked her a few feet into the sea of wildflowers surrounding the lake. Just a slight walk into the massive ocean of small but bright flowers laid a picnic blanket with two wine glasses and a nearly full wine bottle atop it.

Emma shocked to see the quaint set-up, snapped back into reality and remarked, "You lied! You said you were bored."

"Well I was, _most _of the time," Jefferson teased as he pulled her down to sit next to him on the blanket. "Would you like some wine princess?" Jefferson offered with a smile as he held up the wine bottle after pouring a small amount in his glass.

"I would love some your highness," she smiled back. She took a sip and with a satisfied grin, questioned, "To what do owe the pleasure of such a wonderfully set-up surprise?"

"It was your father's idea," Jefferson shrugged.

"_My_ father told you to get me drunk?" Emma questioned with a raised brow as she leaned back on her hand with a curious look, taking another sip from her glass.

"Not in those words exactly," Jefferson laughed, "he just let me know how today was your 'official day-off' so I should maybe be a part of it... Speaking of, how was your day? What did you do?"

"Oh my god, it was so good! I practiced sword-fighting with Snow in the morning then we went to the market and shopped and saw friends and we got to ride home with Henry and Grace on our horses, it was great!" Emma exclaimed with a wide smile as she shifted herself up against Jefferson's side.

"And is it still going well?" He questioned, looking down at her as he began to run his free hand through her golden curls.

She looked up at him with that smile that made him melt as she replied quickly, "Perfect," before giving a him a small kiss then turning back to stare out at the lake.

"Would you like some more wine princess?" Jefferson offered, holding out the bottle to her glass as she took her last sip of it.

"As much as I would love some, no thanks… I want to be sober for dinner tonight."

"Where's the fun that?" he quipped as he continued running his hands fingers through her hair.

"We do have kids you know? We need to set an example…"

"Really? You think I would have remembered that…" Jefferson teased as Emma playfully swatted at his chest.

Suddenly a sound, reminiscent of a lion's roar, echoed through the woods and they heard a rustling in the thick of trees and bushes across the lake. Both Emma and Jefferson shot up in shock and worry as they muttered confused thoughts, trying to decipher where the noise came from and what it was. Last they had checked there were no lions in their world, aside from the pack of mountain lions residing in the mountains but in the forest it was impossible. They both discerned where the rustling was coming from and stood completely still and stared at the forest across the lake in anticipation of what would come through the greenery.

Suddenly the rustling stopped and Jefferson moved protectively in front of Emma, holding her back with one hand. He stood with his feet unmoving, planted firmly to the ground, as Emma attempted to squirm out from behind him but once the rustling began again she froze and glanced up to see a figure beginning to emerge from the thick of bushes and moss. Both of their mouths went agape as they realized what leapt through the greenery was in fact, a large and glorious lion who moved with an almost sense of grace, his large, golden mane adding to his already humongous size. What was even odder though was that a young girl who couldn't have been much older than Henry or Grace rode on the lion's back and was now sliding off to walk alongside it as she grasped it's mane.

Within moments the young girl glanced towards Emma and Jefferson's, noticing their presence, and leaned down to whisper something to the lion as she pointed in their direction. Jefferson cautiously bent down to pick up their belongings, not letting his eyes gaze away from the odd spectacle across the lake. The young girl with medium-length, slightly-curly brown hair who looked entirely harmless slowly walked with the menacing lion at her side around the lake to stand just before the meadow of wildflowers.

Jefferson and Emma merely stood, staring in just as much shock as the moment the girl and the lion came through the bushes. Finally the girl opened her mouth but before any words came out the lion, nudged her to grab her attention, looked up at her with eyes that seemed to explain something the girl could understand for she then closed her mouth and took a small step back as the lion stepped forward towards Jefferson and Emma. They mistook this as an advance on them and to keep the ground between them equal they took a step back in unison.

It was then that both Emma and Jefferson were utterly shocked for the lion opened his large mouth and they expected a roar but instead the fearsome animal began to speak. His voice was low and slightly raspy but certainly one of authority and respect as he explained, "Please, don't be alarmed. My name is Aslan and this is High Queen Lucy of Narnia. I am sure you have never heard of our land and we have much to explain as to why we have come here but please, there is no need to fear us."

Emma's jaw was completely dropped by this moment and she stood utterly speechless but Jefferson stood seriously, his lips pressed into a firm line. He was more used to talking animals so that part didn't necessarily alarm him and he had actually heard of Narnia, though he had never been there himself.

The odd quartet of assorted beings stood in silence for a moment longer before Queen Lucy spoke in a sweet, melodic tone that was rather distinguished for a girl her age, "I promise you, we are not here to hurt you or anyone for that matter. If you could help us locate the nearest kingdom, it would be very much appreciated."

Jefferson took a step forward as Emma glanced quickly to him, thinking he was possibly going insane again, before he spoke hesitantly, "I have actually heard of Narnia." To that Queen Lucy beamed a bright smile as he continued, "I have never been there myself but I know it exists and know much of its history. I can travel between worlds as I know you can as well Aslan. From your country, if I'm not mistaken?…" he inquired, addressing the lion. Aslan slowly gave a nod of his head in agreement as Jefferson continued now slightly more comfortable and speaking less tentatively, "If I may introduce us, this is Princess Emma, daughter of Queen Snow White and King James," he explained gesturing towards Emma then motioning for her to come stand by his side. She hesitantly, almost in slow-motion, reached his side as he continued, "I am her husband, Jefferson, from this land as well as another world you likely know of that goes by Wonderland."

"Ah, yes. I have heard of it." Aslan conceded with a nod of understanding. "We actually send those exiled from Narnia there," Aslan admitted with a small laugh that ended up more of a roar, causing Emma to wince.

Jefferson reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze of comfort as he whispered, "It's okay. I'm right here, no need to worry."

Emma's tense position loosened slightly as Lucy greeted with a warm smile and a small bow, "Well it is lovely to make your acquaintance Princess Emma and Prince Jefferson. If you would be so kind as to lead us back to your palace we would be more than happy to explain things along the way."

Emma took in a deep breath and finally chose to speak as she gestured to the nearest path back to the castle and stated flatly, "Follow us."

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_So I hope you enjoyed this chapter… it included a lot more Mad Swan fluff (back to the normal) so I hope that's helping to make up for the bit of drama and sadness recently! :] Also, I hope you liked how I'm going to be throwing in a few other well-known tales (i.e. Aslan and Lucy from "The Chronicles of Narnia" series), that have not been used in OUAT, in my story because this is just the first of many! ;D If you haven't read the Narnia books or seen the movies I HIGHLY recommend you read/watch them because they are all brilliant and I love them to death! But no worries, if you don't have the time I don't think you will really need any info from them to understand their roles in my story! ;] I must regret to inform you all though that I am starting school on Monday which means my crazy busy days that are completely filled with school, dance, homework, and minimal sleep are coming back so it is likely that I will not be able to update this quite as often! :[ I will still do my best to update but I guarantee they will slow down, so I hope you don't lose interest! Trust me, I would MUCH rather be writing this then doing endless amounts of reading and homework but unfortunately I must if I want to get into a good college, so sorry about that all! :/ But PLEASE review if you get the opportunity, thank you all soooo much for your continued support, and again, I hope you all liked it! :D_


	12. I Think I May Press Charges

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_You have no idea how horribly sorry I am that is has taken me this long to update! For a week or so I lost faith in myself 'cus there were all these amazing Mad Swan fics coming out and I got discouraged then just felt like mine doesn't stand up. :/ Then I had birthday madness going on, then school and dance started consuming my entire life and I didn't get to writing till this past Saturday. Then there's also the problem of me getting distracted with ideas for later chapters and wanting to write them now (I even started the epilogue and that's who knows how many chapters away!) :P But I finally finished chapter 12 and though unfortunately it is not all that long of a chapter, I hope you enjoy it anyways! :]]] Just saying, If you are still reading this after all this time of waiting, I LOVE YOU FOREVER!_

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**Chapter 12: I Think I May Press Charges**

"Narnia—really?" Emma questioned, whispering as she looked over her shoulder to Jefferson standing just behind her.

Jefferson stared off, semi-paying attention to the out-of-place lion currently speaking with his mother and father-in-law. "Yeah, what about it?" he questioned blankly, quickly glancing down to his wife.

"Well, why did you never tell me it was real?"

"I figured it was implied." Jefferson answered with a shrug.

Emma rolled her eyes at that then quickly looked back to the odd sight of the lion and her royal parents. "Implied?... When?"

"Do you recall the whole 'infinite worlds' explanation?"

"How could I forget?" Emma teased with a smirk. "But why have you never had to travel there for business though? You've never mentioned it at least…"

"They don't particularly like people intruding in their world."

"Why the heck not? They don't seem to have a problem popping into others whenever they want!"

"You know, I really thought you were done with all the 'other world questions' after I spent a week explaining the hat to you last year."

"Well pardon me for being curious."

"I never said it was a bad thing, I simply was—"

"Sh, sh, shhhhh, I think Aslan's telling them why he and Lucy are here." Emma quieted as she swatted at her husband. "God that felt weird to say…" she commented as her expression shifted and she shook her head in disbelief at her previous statement.

Jefferson rolled his eyes and let out a small laugh as he turned his attention back to Aslan and his in-laws.

They listened in just as Lucy spoke, "I had to travel here with Aslan for him to be able to come through."

"And we also thought it might be frightening if you suddenly saw a large lion amidst your forest grounds." Aslan added with a toothy smile.

"Well you are no bother to us at all but you have yet to tell us why you are here…" Snow stated from her place beside her husband where she stood with her arms crossed in front of her and an un-fearful, merely curious, look across her face.

"Ah, well first I must explain that it is not uncommon for Narnians to travel to other worlds. It is more difficult for some but for others it is as simple as walking through a doorway." Aslan paused to check his hosts' reactions before continuing, "We occasionally send out messengers to different realms to make sure all is in order and the Narnians who reside in them are not causing too much trouble. Just a few Narnian days ago a messenger, who had traveled to this land, reported he heard the voice of a Narnian here. He recalled the Narnian's voice being muffled, which to us is a sign that they are not from my land. You see, those from my country in Narnia have voices that can transcend to any world containing magic but unfortunately those from any other country of Narnia do not have the privilege of keeping their easiest form of communication and to you they would sound like any other being of their kind in this world. Such as, a dog could be speaking but unless he came from my country it would merely sound like a bark to you," Aslan explained as he lowered his head. "However, from what little our messenger could tell from the voice, whomever the Narnian was, was wishing to go home. The odd thing is, all Narnians who travel to other realms _should _know how to find their way back to Narnia should they ever need to therefore, I grew concerned. I then decided to take the matter on for myself to hopefully resolve the situation quickly and simply."

After a moment of silence while the royals gathered their thoughts James finally broke the silence and apologized, "I'm very sorry Aslan but we don't know of any Narnian here…"

"Oh do not worry, I did not expect you to… I just thought it would be best if we informed you of our presence so you would not be alarmed." Aslan explained, looking up to Lucy.

Lucy looked down at him curiously before realizing it was her time to chime in, "Oh, and we were hoping you could direct us to somewhere in your kingdom where we might stay for a short while, until we can resolve this matter."

Emma's jaw went slightly ajar in shock due to the young girl's highly formal tone and looked back to whisper to Jefferson, "Okay, what is with this kid? Seriously, no _kid _talks like that. Not even here."

Jefferson simply shrugged as he laughed at his wife's contest amazement at such small things. Although he did have to admit that Queen Lucy had a rather eloquent way of speaking for a girl of her young age.

"We wouldn't dare let you stay anywhere but here. We would be honored to have you as our guests." Snow assured the Narnian duo with a warm smile.

"That is very kind of you Queen Snow White and we will happily oblige. I certainly hope we do not put you out. We will do our best to avoid disturbing your daily activities." Lucy responded back gratefully.

Emma's jaw slacked open yet again at Lucy's tone causing Jefferson to whisper in his wife's ear, "You're going to start catching flies."

Emma's shocked expression quickly turned into a sneer as she dug a sharp elbow into his gut causing him to hinge forward and clutch his arms over his abdomen as he let out a semi-quiet groan. Emma smiled in satisfaction at her husband's pain because, as much as violence 'is never the answer', he had it coming.

"Please, just call me Snow. No need to be formal." Snow responded with a slight shake of her head and a smile. "And I am sure you will not put us out, no need to worry. But please do give us time to inform the-"

"Oh gods!" Red shrieked from the doorway, clasping her hands quickly over her mouth. Every creature in the room quickly snapped their attention to the red-cloaked women in the door, unsure of a quick explanation for the situation they were currently in.

From further down the hallway a muffled shout of concern came from Henry; then he and Grace were heard quickly running towards where Red stood frozen in the doorway of the council room. Within moments Grace and Henry appeared in the doorway and their expressions were overcome with fear. Emma and Jefferson immediately noticed their children's worrisome looks and paced towards them as Henry and Grace both instinctively hid behind Red's small form. Emma wrapped her arms tightly around Henry and Grace's shoulders as Jefferson bent down and took one of each of their hands in each of his.

Henry was quickly glancing between his father, the lion, and the brunette girl, who seemed right around his age, as his sister stood, jaw-dropped, staring at the lion before her. Red started mumbling a few confused curses as Henry's fearful expression slowly grew into one of curiosity, then almost a sly smile. He glanced up at Emma before looking back to Jefferson and asking, "Is that who I think it is?"

Jefferson started to let a smile slip across his face as he countered, "And who exactly do you think it is Henry?"

Jefferson quickly glanced to his daughter who now stared in shock not at the lion but her brother's newfound excitement, then to his wife whose eyebrows rose in surprise at her son's reaction. Henry's grin now spread from ear to ear as his eyebrows shot up, knowing he was right, "Is it Aslan? From Narnia?!"

"I take it you liked the 'Chronicles of Narnia' books?" Jefferson laughed out.

"No way! It is him!" Henry beamed as he ran out his parents' grasps towards the friendly lion.

"Henry!" Emma shouted towards her son, quickly reaching out for him then letting her arm drop, knowing that her effort was fruitless.

"It is so cool to meet you Aslan!" Henry exclaimed as he strode towards the lion but still keeping a safe distance, just in case.

Aslan made one of his laughs that doubled as a small roar and replied with a grin, "It is great to meet you as well. I take it you are Henry, Princess Emma's son?"

Henry nodded furiously as his smile grew even wider. James took a few steps closer to his grandson instinctually and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. Aslan smiled and spoke again as he gestured to Lucy, "And this, is Queen Lucy of Narnia."

Henry perked up, directing his attention towards Queen Lucy, and gave a simple, yet excited "Hi Queen Lucy!"

Lucy laughed as she extended her hand forward and explained with a smile, "Just Lucy is fine. No reason to be formal. It's nice to meet you Henry."

Snow took attention to her friend standing in the doorway, who was now eagerly gesturing for her to come, and quickly. Snow responded by scurrying to her friend's side as Red muttered through her teeth, semi-audibly, "Snow, what is a little girl and a _huge _lion doing standing in the middle of the council room?!"

Snow led Red off to one side the room, quietly explaining the whole situation to her friend as Grace shook her head, trying to gain her composure. "Papa, who in the world is Aslan?" Grace asked her father with eyes that mixed curiosity, confusion, and fear.

"Well actually, no one from this world." Jefferson laughed, looking his daughter in the eyes. "He comes from Narnia, one of the many lands in my hat, but all you need to know about him is that you have no need to be afraid of him."

"Are you sure?" Grace questioned, looking back and forth between her parents.

Emma nodded as Jefferson replied simply, "I promise."

This statement had a lot of history with Grace. Long ago, her father had said the exact same thing before he was trapped in Wonderland and though it wasn't his fault, technically, he still broke his promise. But every single day since they had been reunited in Storybrooke he had dedicated his every waking moment to making it up to her. He was entirely sorry and she knew what he had gone through so she forgave him and every time he promised her since that fateful day he never broke it so she had whole-hearted confidence in him at this moment.

Jefferson slowly stood up and gently guided his daughter in the direction of Lucy and Aslan as Emma followed just a step behind them. Grace took careful steps towards her brother and their company, still very aware that should she have seen such a large lion in any other circumstance she would be running as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

Aslan noticed Grace's hesitance and took it upon himself to ease her worry. He took a small step around Henry, who was now grilling Lucy with questions. He stepped towards Grace, which stopped the young girl in her tracks.

Aslan comtinued approaching Grace slowly as she stood frozen and he spoke softly, "I imagine you must be Grace."

Grace quickly nodded her head as she looked at the lion with wide eyes.

"You can take your father's word. There is no need to be afraid." Aslan greeted as his lips pulled back into a smile.

Grace pulled her shoulders back defensively at his words that doubted her faith in her father and tilted her chin upwards as she put on her brave face. "Of course I can take my papa's word. It is nice to meet you Aslan."

Jefferson glanced back at Emma with a shocked expression at his daughter's sudden boldness. It was then that Grace stepped out from her father's grasp on her shoulders and walked forward steadily till she was within a foot of the large lion. She stuck out her hand fervently and Aslan graciously nodded his head as he gently laid his paw on her palm and shook her hand.

"She's a strong one, our girl." Emma commented as she walked up behind Jefferson who stood in awe at his daughter's brave gesture.

"Yeah, she is." Jefferson agreed offhandedly, still gaping at his daughter.

Emma slipped her hand into Jefferson's and gave it a gentle squeeze, causing him to snap out of his trance and look over to his wife. It was then that Emma noticed his eyes gleaming with the slightest hint of tears. He unintentionally let a single tear escape and it slid down his cheek. Emma reached up to cup his face gently with her hand then wipe the tear away with her thumb before she leaned up on her toes to give him a gentle kiss. He leaned towards his wife as she pulled away and pressed herself against his side, leaning her head onto his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head, piled with golden curls, and leaned himself against her as he stated nostalgically, "Look at them. They're both growing up."

"Yeah," Emma agreed, "I guess they are." She looked off to her daughter bravely facing a lion she had not long ago wanted to run from and her son, now raving about the other-realm visitors to Red.

It was then that Snow stepped away from her friend to kindly offer to the Narnians, "If you would like to join us, dinner is ready downstairs. I'm not sure if you will like what we are having but I'm sure our chef can prepare something else if you do not wish to eat our meal."

Lucy stepped towards Snow as she responded with a smile, "As I said, we are not going to trouble you. Whatever it may be, I'm sure dinner will be lovely. It would be our pleasure to join you, thank you."

"Well then, follow me. I'll lead the way downstairs." Snow exclaimed as she made her way to the door, grabbing her still-in-shock friend by the arm to lead her out.

The small crowd continued with their conversations as they strolled through the castle halls until they reached the first floor and a low bark resounded against the walls, calling their attention to the wolf standing at the end of the hall.

It was Graham's wolf and they all stood, staring at it with mixed expressions of confusion, all except for Aslan. Aslan slowly retreated back from the group with a small smile spreading across his monstrous jaw. The wolf also slowly walked towards the large lion as the onlookers all stood frozen and entirely perplexed.

Aslan stopped and slowly sat as the wolf let out a small bark. It was then that Aslan laughed and coolly replied, "Yes, I am. And I imagine you are the Narnian trying to find your way home?"

The wolf then stopped just feet in front of the lion and put one paw out further than the rest, hinged his hind legs back, and bowed his upper half. Aslan gave a small nod at the gesture and continued, "Now, if you would, please explain how you came here and why you are unable to return home." The wolf returned to his normal stance and slightly nodded his head before Aslan motioned for the wolf to join him, "Come, walk with me and you may explain."

As Aslan turned back to the crowd of confused humans it dawned on him that they could not understand the exchange that had just occurred and he let out a small snort of laughter. He smiled as he explained, "It appears that this wolf is the Narnian whom our messenger heard. And all is as I thought and since he is not from my country you cannot hear his voice as you do mine."

The group was a bit less confused but now merely, shocked. Lucy was the first to step out of the crowd and she greeted the wolf with a smile and an introduction. Henry followed suit and of course, starting smothering both Aslan and the wolf with many of the questions that were surely on everyone's minds.

The rest of the party now glanced around their group, searching for who would be the next brave soul to step forward or speak. Snow cleared her throat and tentatively spoke, "Excuse me, Aslan…" the lion whipped his head in her direction, "are you still planning on dining with us?"

Emma shot her mother an incredulous look, not believing that with all this nonsense happening with, talking animals and realm jumping and the fact that Graham's wolf was from another world, she was still concerned about their dinner.

Jefferson who was the only in the group who was not all that shocked, (he never was, not much fazed him) leaned in to whisper to his wife, "Really? With the flies? Again?... You know I don't want to see you end up cho—GODS!" He was interrupted mid-sentence by Emma slamming her heel down on his toes and he cried out in pain.

Grace urgently looked back to her hurting father but he waved her off, scrunching his face in pain and shaking out his foot. James smiled proudly at his daughter, she was a strong one his girl, and Snow simply rolled her eyes.

Aslan ignored the pain-stricken Jefferson and calmly responded to Snow, "If you do not mind I think I shall skip dinner for this evening and gain more insight on my fellow Narnian's tale."

"Oh, well I will go with you." Lucy chimed in.

"No Lucy please, take a rest. Enjoy a nice meal and good company." Aslan insisted.

"Yes please, we would love to have you." Snow added with a smile.

"Pleeeeease!" Henry practically begged, "I haven't even gotten through half the things I want to ask you about!"

"Oh, well if you insist." Lucy obliged, smiling widely.

Henry cheered as Snow smiled, "Wonderful." She paused before turning back to the lion, "Have a lovely night Aslan and just call for one of us when you are ready to be shown to your quarters."

"Thank you Snow," Aslan mused, "and thank you everyone. Enjoy your dinner."

As the group gathered themselves and turned back to the direction of the dining room Red pulled Snow by the arm, to join her at her side. She whispered, groaning, "Today has just been too weird. I feel like we've stepped into The Twilight Zone or something."

"The Twilight 'what?'" Snow questioned with raised eyebrows.

"Really? You never watched The Twilight Zone back in Storybrooke? Oh goodness, you have not even lived!" Red teased as Snow stared back at her with the same confused expression.

Emma turned back to the direction of the dining hall as she watched her son walk past her, already drilling poor Lucy with endless amounts questions. His beautiful smile kept growing the more he spoke and Grace eventually ran to catch up with her brother, once her curiosity got the best of her.

Emma began walking towards the dining room till she noticed an unusually loud and overdramatic, uneven step coming from behind her. She lazily turned on her heel to find her husband making a grandiose effort of trying to look injured, much like he had done the night they first met, only much more melodramatic. He hobbled on one leg, as his hunched upper body hung low and his one arm grasped his "injured" leg.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it just a bit?" Emma questioned with raised eyebrows and a smirk as she placed her hands on her hips.

"You know for someone who says 'violence is never the answer' and someone who also used to be sheriff you certainly commit a lot of battery. I think I may press charges." Jefferson smirked back at her, not giving up on his overdramatic scene.

Emma nonchalantly shifted her weigh from one hip to the other, "Considering that the person you would be filing those charges with is my father, I'd say you have no chance at them going through."

Jefferson continued his desperate, pitiful hopping, now within just a few feet of her, "You wanna bet?"

"Now that would just be unfair bet. You would have _no _chance."

"You really think so?"

"Oh, I _know _so."

Jefferson now was right in front of her and she stared down at him scrutinizing and he looked up at her from under his brow, a sly grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. Before she even had time to flinch he stood straight up, snaked his arm around her back, and he pulled her body tight against his.

Emma's breath hitched, she should have seen this coming but she was enjoying his fake pain a bit too much to even suspect anything. Jefferson's breath was hot on her skin as he leaned his head down to hers, "How about we make a deal?... I won't press charges if I get an apology… and a kiss."

"Why would I accept that deal when I know I would win without making a deal?" she asked, avoiding his gaze and staring at his lips. Her voice was low and breath heavy, as his breathing numbed her.

"Because you love me." Jefferson consented, letting that full, utterly glorious grin of his slip out entirely.

"Even so, what would _I _gain from this deal?" She questioned as her bright eyes flicked up to look into his.

"My forgiveness."

Emma paused, willing herself not give in and searched his eyes, now dancing over her face. She leaned towards him but much to Jefferson's surprise her lips quickly and simply brushed past his and she gave him a simple peck on the cheek. She spun quickly on her heel, giving his chest a small pat as she explained, "Sorry bud, but that's all your gettin' right now."

She left a stunned Jefferson in her wake and he simply stood, disappointed, with his mouth agape as he watched her nonchalantly strolling away with her head high and hand left in the air with a flicked wrist. He shook himself out of shock and processed her words before asking, hopefully, "Now?... What about later?"

Emma did not pause her steps as she looked over shoulder with a small yet cheeky smile and raised eyebrows, "We'll see."

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_Thank you sooooooo much for reading this and I hope you liked what I did with the whole Narnian ordeal and the Twilight Zone reference (and all the Mad Swan fluffiness)! :D If you despised/loved/kind of liked/hated/whatever you feel about this chapter, feel free to let me know, I love any review, good or bad! ;D I truly hope you enjoyed this and I PROMISE I will do a better job of updating sooner for the next chapter (if I don't, I give you full permission to yell at me endlessly [I'm actually surprised no one has already :P])! :]]_


	13. You Two Are Absolutely Adorable

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_Alrighty, so yet again I am beyond horribly sorry for having this take so long to get up. To say the least, I have had a crazy amount of nonsense going on in my life and as always, keep getting distracted and yeah… I am just really sorry this is taking so long to update! I would absolutely get a new chapter up every few days if I could but unfortunately my schedule does not permit that kind of time! :/ Then for some reason (as I said last time I updated) I keep getting ideas for the super late chapters of this so I will write those (as not to forget them) but hey, that means once we eventually get there (since I already wrote them) I will have no problem popping out chapters really quickly. ;P This chapter is unfortunately not very long so I apologize for that but I truly hope you like it and you seriously have no idea how thankful I am for those of you are reading/have read this because you are all THE BEST! _

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**Chapter 13****: You Two Are Absolutely Adorable**

"Do you really have to leave already?" Grace pleaded to Lucy as she brought a plate of cookies over to the table in the middle of the living room.

"Unfortunately, yes. As I said earlier, we don't want to trouble your family any more than we have to and it is also best for us to get home as soon as possible." Lucy explained with a smile.

"I'm sure another day wouldn't hurt." Henry added, hoping their new friend could stay a little longer.

"Well we are going to stay the night but Aslan suggested that we be off in the morning. I'm sorry." Lucy apologized with a small smile and a shrug as she reached for a cookie. "It has been lovely meeting all of you though. We were only here for a short time but I certainly enjoyed myself. And mmmm, these cookies are delicious." Lucy added after taking a bite of the gooey treat.

"I still think you should stay." Grace encouraged.

"As much as I would love to, I must do as Aslan says. He has very strict rules but he is always right." Lucy smiled, re-calling the many times she questioned the wise, old lion but he never failed to prove her wrong.

"Pardon the interruption but I think it's about time for you kids to get to bed," Jefferson greeted from the doorway.

"Just a few more minutes Papa, please." Grace begged, using her puppy eyes to the fullest extent.

Jefferson's semi-serious expression twisted then as he looked his little girl in the eyes and sighed, conceding, "Fine, but just a few minutes.'

Grace and Henry both thanked their father with wide smiles as they turned back to their friend. Jefferson strolled in, towards the sofa, as Emma followed in a few steps behind. Her eyes brightened as she spotted the plate on the coffee table and she exclaimed, "Oh, cookies!"

Emma quickened her pace, past Jefferson, as she reached down and scooped up three cookies and threw herself back on the couch.

Jefferson laughed as Henry scolded, "Hey! Who said you could have any?"

"You get to stay up late, I get cookies." Emma muttered just before taking a bite of one of the cookies and crossing her legs up on the couch. Jefferson reached the couch then and sat down, sprawling himself out, back and elbows against the arm of the sofa and legs lying across Emma's lap.

"Fine." Henry gave up, rolling his eyes.

"Whoa Grace, these are really good!" Emma admitted. "You made these yourself?"

"Well I did have a bit of help from Bashful and Happy, but I mixed all the ingredients," Grace beamed, proud of her creation.

"You definitely did an excellent job." Emma mumbled through of mouthful of cookie that she had just stuffed in. Jefferson let out a small laugh at Emma's lack of manners that only she noticed, causing her to quickly glare at him and state, "Here, try one," as she shoved one of the cookies in his slightly ajar mouth.

Jefferson made a choking noise, his eyes widening in surprise, as he caught his breath and bit down on the cookie. He braced his one arm against the couch behind him and grabbed the remaining piece with his hand, bringing it down to his side, dramatically chewing the large bit in his mouth. He really need to start remembering when it was a bad time to toy with Emma, though that was basically every second of every day.

"Thanks," he choked out through coughs and a quick sneer directed at Emma. "These are actually very good Grace. Great job, sweetie!" Jefferson complimented, turning his sneer towards his wife into a smile for his daughter.

"Thank you Papa, I'm glad everyone likes them." Grace smiled, looking to each person in the room. "Now could you both _please _try to convince Lucy to stay longer?" Grace questioned hopefully as she crossed her arms on the couch and rested her head atop them, looking up to her parents.

Emma and Jefferson exchanged a glance, knowing full well that their daughter loved making new friends and got attached, possibly a bit too easily, before Emma decided to answer, "As much as we would love to have Lucy stay as long as she likes, I don't think either of us are going to try to undermine Aslan."

Grace's shoulders hunched as she grunted and made a pout face, turning her back to her parents.

"Sorry Grace," Emma apologized with a frown. "Here, have a cookie." Emma offered with a smile as she gave up her last cookie.

"Thank you, but you keep it. I'll just get one for myself." Grace answered, letting a smile crack through her sad expression.

The group continued the friendly chatter as they munched on cookies and exchanged stories. All the children bombarded Jefferson with questions about the other realms, Henry and Grace taking advantage of his openness to tell, because it was a rare occasion when he was, and as he explained his journeys throughout the other realms they all were enthralled. Lucy shared some of her experiences of being royalty at such a young age and told the family of her history with her siblings in Narnia. Emma pouted at the fact that she lived such a boring life to which all of them reprimanded her, for her life was anything but boring. Then, after another hour of conversation and laughter, Emma finally warned, "Alright, it's way past time for you guys to be in bed, it's almost midnight."

To that Emma got muffled 'okay's and 'fine's from everyone, including Jefferson who now wore an extreme pout. The party reluctantly gathered themselves and walked into the hall. Lucy wished everyone a good night as Emma and Jefferson led Henry and Grace to their rooms, making sure they actually went to bed before leaving them.

Once assured that their children were fast asleep Emma and Jefferson walked hand-in-hand out into the hall where they noticed Lucy still standing at the end by the stairwell. They exchanged a confuse glance as they strolled towards her and Jefferson questioned, "Is something wrong Lucy?"

"Oh, um, I was just wondering if you two would mind showing me to my room?... Snow showed me earlier but I fear I might get lost along the way."

"Of course," Emma replied happily, "I am _still _getting used to making my way around this place, I totally get it."

The trio began making their way through the stairway as Emma asked to break the silence, "Alright so Snow explained it to me earlier after she talked to Aslan but just to clarify, Graham's wolf came _here _with his mom when he was a pup to escape the Telmarine rule, they couldn't talk when they got here so they joined a wolf pack, she died, he found Graham, the whole pack raised him, and now that Graham is gone he wants to go back where he came from but he couldn't figure out how to so that's why he was howling?"

"Basically, yes." Lucy shrugged.

"Damn, who knew?" Emma remarked just as Lucy's eyebrows shot up and she looked to Emma, surprised.

"Oh, sorry," Emma quickly apologized, realizing that cursing was probably not something heard often by the young royal. "Sometimes I sort of, speak without thinking."

Lucy let out a small giggle as Jefferson placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder gently and half-jokingly apologized, "Pardon my wife. She's a great princess but her manners still leave something to be desired."

"It's okay, I understand." Lucy continued, giggling. "I'm simply just not used to it."

Emma glared at Jefferson as the three of them winded down another hallway leading off the stairs before finally reaching Lucy's room. Jefferson gave Emma a quick kiss, in hopes of removing the sneer from her lips before gesturing to the doorway and announcing, "Here we are."

"Thank you very much for leading me to my quarters, I probably would have gotten lost otherwise."

"No problem," Emma smiled, finally letting her stern look fade.

"Our pleasure," Jefferson added with his arm looping around Emma's waist.

Lucy gave a small, shy laugh looking down past her shoulder as she admitted, "I just have to tell you. You two are absolutely adorable. You make such a lovely couple."

Emma's eyebrows shot up and her face twisted as she wondered whether she was thankful or resentful of the comment, as Jefferson merely laughed and flashed a grin, answering simply, "Thank you, Lucy."

"Goodnight. Thank you again." Lucy wished, smiling as she turned and scurried into her room.

"Goodnight" Jefferson remarked before turning to see his wife's eyebrows lower and shoot him a questioning look.

"Adorable?... I don't think I've ever been referred to as 'adorable' before."

"Well she didn't say _you _were adorable, even though you are, especially when you give a look like that," Jefferson admitted, kissing her cheek sweetly as he began ushering her back up to their room, "she said _we _were adorable."

"I still don't know if I like the comment…" Emma stated, looking off with her expression unchanging.

"Can't you take a compliment?" Jefferson asked, giving Emma an incredulous look over his shoulder as he led her by the hand up the stairway.

"No," she said as though it were obvious, "because I get more than enough of them from you and I can only take so much."

"As your husband, it's my job," Jefferson stated, earning a glare form his wife. "Besides, it's not as though I say them just to say them. I only speak the truth."

"Doesn't mean their necessary," Emma sneered as Jefferson pulled her up the last few stairs. "What in the hell are you in such hurry for?" Emma questioned, tired of practically jogging up the steps.

Jefferson quickly hooked his arm behind Emma's waist, eliminating the space between them as he breathed, "You said earlier that I may get more than just a kiss on the cheek tonight…" He hastily caught her lips with his before Emma could even process her thought and recall what he was talking about.

They stood, linked together, for a moment before Jefferson pulled back and began dragging her by the hand down the hall. Emma followed, unthinking, until just before they reached their room when she gathered herself and her eyes shot open in realization.

Emma then tried to skid to a halt, causing Jefferson to stop in their doorway and look back at her, confused. "Look, I have had a long day and I am about pass out… I love you but, tonight is just not the night." Emma sighed apologetically.

The corners of Jefferson's lips sunk downward and his eyes overcame with disappointment. He wore just about the saddest "puppy-dog face" Emma had ever seen, rivaling his own children's expert looks of sorrow, as he marched Emma into their room, sluggishly. He lazily kicked the door closed with a flick of his booted foot whilst pouting, "You shouldn't say things if you don't mean them."

Emma wrenched her hand free of his loosening grip, crossing one arm over the other, stating plainly, "Excuse me, but I never said it would happen. I said 'we'll see', that's it. You just assumed."

Jefferson slumped over to his dresser as he continued pouting, "Well pardon me for getting my hopes up." He threw his arms up weakly with that statement then let them fall limp at his sides, making himself appear all the more pitiful. "You know, you're a tease."

"And you love it." Emma chided, appearing suddenly behind him before placing her hands on his shoulders and leaning up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

Emma then sauntered across the room to change into her pajamas as Jefferson slipped into his. He only continued to pout for a moment; for he suddenly shot up and swung his shirt over his shoulder. He left his shirt hanging as he slowly, dramatically turned on his heel and crossed his arms, smirking at Emma. She noticed his sudden change in attitude through her mirror and as she pulled a tank-top over her head she questioned, semi-afraid to find out, "What?"

He started slowly towards her, carefully and melodramatically stepping heel-toe, as his smirk grew and he questioned back, "Did I tell you who I heard was coming tomorrow to stay for a week?"

"No…" Emma responded growing wary.

"_King_ Maxwell." Jefferson replied, emphasizing the nonsense that the boy held the title of "king."

His smug grin grew wider as Emma jaw slacked and she turned around, pulling down the sides of her top and let out, "Come, on. You _cannot _be serious!"

"Oh, but I am." Jefferson replied pompously.

Emma grunted and muttered loudly as she stomped back to face her dresser and threw her arms up in the air, exasperated. "_Please _tell me he at least has his parents coming with him this time?!…"

"Well…" Emma's eyebrows shot up, expecting the worst response as Jefferson finally reached where she stood and rested his chin on her shoulder, looking off, as though searching for the answer.

"Well what?!"

"_Well, _they are coming with him _but_, and yes there is a 'but'; tomorrow _we_ have to watch him from the time they get here until dinner, because Gwen and William are having some sort of trade agreement luncheon with your parents." Emma's expression grew into one of exasperation, worry, sadness, and most prominently, dread, as Jefferson continued, now looking to her through the mirror, "Then, we also have to watch him all of Friday, because they are making appearances in town but want him to stay here."

Emma let out a snarl as she angrily folded the clothes she had crumpled in the process of pulling out her pajamas, "But why do _we _have to watch him?!" She paused for a minute to think of another solution before finally perking up, excited that she found a plausible idea, and glancing to Jefferson in the mirror, "What about Red? She's not going anywhere, right?"

Jefferson shook his head, his grin unchanging as he replied, "Can't; she's leaving for Mareasia in the morning."

Emma pouted and continued folding but after a moment of thought she perked up again, asking, "How about Pinnochio? He's never doing anything."

"Going with Red."

"Of course he is…" Emma groaned, now loathing the fact that the _one _time she could actually give him something to do he was leaving. "Belle wouldn't happen to be coming into town tomorrow, would she?"

"Nope; she's already in Mareasia with Rumple and Bae."

"What about Abigail and Frederick?"

"Frederick isn't letting her travel this far now that she's further along."

"And Ariel and Eric?"

"Who do you think everyone is in Mareaisa with?"

"Right… how about Phillip and Aurora?"

"Busy with the baby."

"Hey, what about the dwarves?"

"Working at the luncheon."

"Granny?"

"Taking part in the luncheon."

"Ella and Thomas?"

"Won't be back until next month."

"Gepetto?"

"Working in the market with Hansel & Gretel's father."

"Giselle and Robert?"

"Coming when Ella and Thomas are."

"And no Jasmine and Alladin?"

"The trip here would take nearly a week itself."

"Jiminy?"

"As great as he with kids, Max would railroad him."

"What about Rapunzel and Flynn?"

"Traveling on some journey along the Eastern Sea."

"Mulan?"

"Training soldiers in Briardom... besides, she'd likely end up with a sword at the poor, little gremlin's throat."

"And the problem with that would be?..."

"Emma, really?"

"Yeah, yeah… hey, what about Lancelot?" Emma suggested brightly, desperate for a solution.

"With Mulan."

"Maybe, Hook?..."

"No!" Jefferson responded instantly with a stern look. He was certainly not one to talk when it came to being a partially crazy man who had not so great history with Emma but he really despised the mere mention of the earring-wearing, hook-handed captain.

Emma grunted loudly and slammed the drawer shut, angrily searching her mind for any other options.

Jefferson gave her a quick peck on the cheek from his perch, still on her shoulder, before re-forming his content smirk and stating, "Face it, we're stuck with the kid."

"Ugh, we can't be!" Emma groaned, spinning around and burying her head in Jefferson's bare chest and hands gripping the drawer behind her.

"Come on, come on. You need to rest up before our big day tomorrow with Maxwell." Jefferson teased, gently grabbing her wrists away from the wooden edge of the dresser and intertwining their fingers. He began walking her towards their bed as she continued mumbling grunts and groans of displeasure with her head hanging down. He sat back then swung his legs onto the bed coolly and swiftly pulled Emma to sit in his lap. He stared down at her as she repeated her displeased moaning, letting her go on for another minute before questioning, "Weren't you the one who said you were tired?"

Emma let out one last grunt before slowly tilting her gaze upwards and glaring at him and threatening, "You are lucky I haven't slapped that stupid grin off your face by now!" Jefferson simply raised his eyebrows in surprise at her sudden hostility as she continued, "If you don't quit it, you better watch yourself."

"Hey, you ruin my night, I ruin yours." Jefferson responded simply with a shrug before finally pulling his shirt off his shoulder and shimmying into it.

Emma sneered but moments later collapsed into him, letting her exhaustion take, and her eyes slip closed.

His smug grin never left his face as his successfully frustrated wife drifted to sleep on his chest. He gave her one last kiss before resting his head atop hers and fell asleep peacefully, cherishing every second he had _his_ Emma in his arms.

* * *

_Like I said, not long but I hope you enjoyed it and didn't mind Jeff trying to get Emma mad. I just felt like it was something he might do. :P And you might be wondering who King Maxwell is but with as much as I have given up you probably cannot really tell who he is yet. But no worries, you certainly will next chapter. ;] Just to hint at it, he is not in any fairy tale (actually, a children's book) and is not technically a king in the original story (I kind of put my own twist on it). Also, in his original tale he has a wide imagination but in my story, that imagination is accompanied by a bit of hyper, monster-child-like qualities._


	14. That Wasn't An Option

**DISCLAIMER: I own absolutely none of the wonderfulness that is Once Upon A Time and their characters or other later-mentioned characters (non-related to OUAT).**

_This is my first fic therefore, there is obviously no prequel but if you'd like a reference as to what I'm going to use as canon for most of Emma and Jeff's past then I'd recommend "Happily Never After" by L3ftOfCent3r. Plus, I think it's a rather brilliant fic in general so you should just read it anyways if you haven't._

_Aaaaaahhhh, oh my goodness! I don't even think you understand how incredibly sorry I am that is has taken me forEVER to update this! D: As I have told some of you, my life is just crazy busy and if I could be writing all day, every day I soooooo would! This story still means the world to me as well as all of you who continue to read this despite the fact that I have become the worst updater ever! :[ If you can find it in your beautiful heart to forgive me, I truly hope you like this chapter (it's the longest yet, so btace yourself)! Thank you all soooo much for being the best readers EVER! :D_

* * *

**Chapter 14****: That Wasn't An Option**

"Mmmm, is that chocolate-chip pancakes I smell?" Emma questioned, sniffing the air as she strolled into the kitchen, ignoring the busy workers running to and fro and choosing to focus on her kids across the room.

"Mmm-hmm." Henry muttered through a mouth stuffed full of his syrup-covered pancakes.

"Papa promised me that if I didn't make a fuss this morning when Lucy left he would make a special breakfast." Grace smiled, picking up the jar of syrup and pouring it atop her stack of hotcakes.

"How many would you like, Princess?" Jefferson looked over his shoulder from his spot at the stove to his wife in the doorway.

"Twenty," Emma answered half-seriously.

"Be careful what you wish for… If I make you all those, it's _you_ who has to eat them all."

"Fine, I'll take three." Emma dodged one of the kitchen staff as she made her way to the small table her kids were eating at. "Did Lucy and them leave already?"

"Yeah, they left super early this morning." Grace semi-pouted.

"We got to see them go through a portal! It was _so _cool!" Henry chimed in after swallowing his mouthful. "It was like Papa's hat but not really, it just popped up out of nowhere."

"I'll admit; Aslan's portal jumping is rather impressive." Jefferson remarked from across the bustling kitchen.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Emma asked, taking a seat across from her children.

"We wanted to but Papa said you needed your sleep." Grace explained, her focus down on her plate as she cut through her breakfast.

"He said you had a long day ahead of you." Henry added.

"Oh… right." Emma remarked with a roll of her eyes, remembering just exactly what her 'long day' entailed. She lazily swung her legs over the edge of the seat and sauntered past the kitchen staff and to her husband cooking at the stove. Just behind him she stopped and leaned her lips close to his ear, whispering only loud enough for him to hear, "And there's _no _way I can get out of it?..."

Jefferson's breath hitched in surprise at his wife's hot breath in his ear. Suddenly his pulse raced and he couldn't concentrate, no longer able to focus on the breakfast he was preparing. He blinked a few times to gain back some semblance of a coherent thought and breathed out, dazed, "I, uh, already told you, there's no one else around to watch him…"

Emma grinned, satisfied with his surprised response and whispered again, "Are you sure?..."

Jefferson heard the pancakes sizzling beneath his gaze and was snapped back into reality. He noticed the downward sides almost burning and hastily flipped them onto their uncooked sides. "You realize you're distracting the cook, right? If you keep this up, your pancakes are going to end up burnt."

"An honorable sacrifice if this works." Emma reached her arms around him and slowly slid her hands to his chest.

"Too bad it's not going to." Jefferson smirked then whipped himself to face his wife and catch his free arm around her hip. "But you can still get a good morning kiss." He leaned into her and crashed his lips into hers. Though disappointed she didn't resist and leaned up to him, savoring the taste of his morning tea that lingered on his lips.

"Ew!" Henry gasped as he looked up to find his parents making out.

"You do realize there are other people in here, right?" Grace added with a twisted expression.

As Emma pulled away with an embarrassed look she left a hand lying on her husband's chest and they both turned their attention towards their children.

At this point both Henry and Grace were gathering their breakfast plates and utensils and standing up. Grace looked over to her parents once more and added, "I think we'll just finish our breakfast in the dining room."

"We'll leave you two, and the kitchen staff, to yourselves." Henry joined and scurried out of the kitchen and into the dining room, sufficiently grossed out.

Emma turned back to Jefferson and laughed, burying her face into his neck. He chuckled right along with her then moved her to stand beside him as he faced back towards the stove, while a kitchen staff member rushed past them holding an assortment of fine china.

Emma ceased her laughter and looked up to her husband as he flipped her pancakes from off the stove onto her plate. "Do you think they'll _ever_ be okay with our PDA?"

"Probably not," Jefferson shrugged, handing the plate of fresh hotcakes to her. "For you, your majesty."

"Thanks." Emma smiled and took the plate before leaning up to peck his cheek. She leaned back and figured she'd try one last time to get out of what she was dreading, "And there's _still _no way I can get out of babysitting?"

"Unfortunately not princess, but it's _we_, not just you. I'll help with the little monster as best I can."

"What happened to you being mad at me for last night?"

"You know I could never actually be mad at you princess." Jefferson explained sincerely, gingerly reaching up to caress her cheek. "Plus, I'd never wish the torture of watching that monster alone on anyone."

"Gee, thanks." Emma took his hand and they walked into the dining room together, earning questionable looks from their children seated at the table. Before the couple sat down, they had to promise that there would be no other displays of affection while eating at the table with them. They promised by swearing on their stack of pancakes then were allowed to dine with their kids. After working their way through breakfast in no time they sent Henry and Grace off to school with Gepetto, on his way into town.

The rest of the morning was spent going through as much of the castle as they could and making sure there was nothing, within four feet of the ground, that Max could get his hands on and/or "accidentally" destroy. Granted, he never truly did break anything (or anyone) on purpose but he certainly could be much more wary of his surroundings.

Just after noon a messenger came and announced that Gwen, William, and Maxwell had arrived. Emma sighed and braced herself for the _fun _day ahead of her. Jefferson reached down, interlacing his fingers with hers, and kissed the back of her hand, hoping it would provide some sense of comfort, or at the very least, hope that the rest of her day wasn't going to be entirely miserable.

Emma and Jefferson entered the foyer, where Snow and James were already standing, awaiting their guests' entrance. Emma glared at her mother and father, envying the fact that they did not have to babysit a gremlin all day. They sent back looks of apology and though she was glad they were sorry for it, that didn't make it any better of a situation. Within seconds the castle doors opened and revealed Gwen and William's forest green, silver-trimmed carriage standing just outside the entryway. Their servant descended from his seat beside the coachman and unlatched and opened the door that closed off the body of the carriage.

"Emma!" Maxwell shrieked with a delight, jumping down from the carriage and running towards Emma.

Emma stared towards the skinny, mop-headed child whose height only reached just above her waist, shocked. The last time she had seen him he had ran out of his carriage in a similar fashion but instead ran past all the adults and into the castle, ready to destroy anything in his path. This time a wide grin spread on his face at the sight of Emma and he quickly came to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Emma stared down at him, confused, as Jefferson looked on, about to laugh. Emma's surprise was evident to everyone except Maxwell as he greeted, "I'm so happy to see you Emma! We're gonna have so much fun!"

"Uh, yeah kid, we are…" Emma replied, looking to her husband, still baffled by the boy's actions. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the kind greeting but she definitely was not expecting it from Maxwell of all people. Jefferson merely shrugged and choked back another laugh as he noticed the also shocked faces of his in-laws standing a few feet from them.

Gwen and William descended the steps of the carriage in a much more graceful fashion then their son and happily greeted Snow and James. As the old friends exchanged 'hello's' Maxwell finally let his grip around Emma release. He looked up to Jefferson, with an almost sneer, and gave a reluctant and simple, "Hello Jefferson."

It took all the restraint Jefferson had not to burst out in laughter at the young boy's obvious distaste. "It's nice to see you too Max."

"Hey!" Maxwell snapped, "That's _Maxwell_ to you! Only my parents and Emma can call me Max." The way he said 'Emma' was a bit too fondly for Emma's liking. How he accentuated her name as though she were some goddess sent from the heavens, made her wary of what their day had in store, causing her to unconsciously roll her eyes.

"Of course _King _Maxwell," Jefferson replied back mockingly while giving a small bow.

Maxwell scoffed at Jefferson and turned back to Emma. Emma gave him a small, forced smile and suggested weakly, "Hey Max, why don't you go say bye to your parents then we can go get you some lunch?"

"Okay Emma." Maxwell grinned then ran to wish his parents 'goodbye' before they were off to their own lunch.

"What in the world is going on here?" Emma turned to Jefferson as soon as Maxwell was out of earshot.

"Well, to me it looks like King Maxwell has a bit of a crush on Princess Emma." Jefferson grinned, showing his obvious delight at the hilarity of it all.

"How?! The last time he saw me was over six months ago…"

"Well you know what they say…" Emma eyed him curiously as he held in his laughter before bursting, looking off dreamily and stating, "distance makes the heart grow fonder!"

She refused to laugh, this was _not _funny. "Seriously, when did this happen? What the heck happened to the kid who was here last year and hated me; wouldn't do a single word of what I asked him, complained every two seconds?"

"It looks like he's growing up; and trying to change himself… for love." Jefferson accentuated the second part, holding one hand to his heart and looking off with a sparkling glint in his eyes, mocking Emma's new fan.

"Stop it," Emma finally laughed, swatting at his chest. "It's not funny."

"Oh but it is."

"Shouldn't you be jealous or something?..." Emma questioned, hoping she might be able to get some enjoyment out of this situation.

"Of the seven-year old, wanna-be king you refer to as a 'gremlin'?... Hardly."

The two continued laughing until Emma groaned when she had to turn her attention back to the 'king.' Maxwell came running back to her with a smile and stood close to her side. She reluctantly waved a quick hello and goodbye to Maxwell's parents then showed him to the kitchen. As she walked through the castle corridors and Maxwelll continued grinning up at her, all innocent and full of all the love a schoolboy crush could hold, she mused on how the day was going to go now that things were quite different than she had expected. She wasn't sure which Max to be more afraid of, the one who hated her, or the one who followed her around like a puppy dog... Boy was today going to be a _great _one!

Luckily, by the time they reached the kitchen most of the staff had cleared out to be at work in the dining room, ready for the luncheon, so there weren't too many people to work around. Emma showed Maxwell to an open seat at the staff table then strolled over to the counter where Jefferson stood and questioned, "So, kid, what do you want for lunch?"

Maxwell considered his options for a moment then quickly replied with a grin. "I want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

Emma shot him an incredulous look. She was sure the kid knew they didn't have any peanut butter in The Enchanted Forest hence, it was impossible to have a PB&J sandwich. "Maxwell, you know we don't have real peanut butter in this world like we did in Storybrooke."

Max's grinning visage suddenly turned into a deep frown with furrowed brows. "So…? I _still _want a peanut butter and jelly. You asked what I wanted and _that _is what I want."

Ah yes, here it was… this seemed much more like the Max she remembered. "But Max, if we don't have any peanut butter, how are you supposed to get a _peanut butter _and jelly sandwich?"

"I don't know; make some?..."

_Well if we could make some don't you think we would have some?!_ Emma groaned to herself and sensing her frustration but with no solution to offer, Jefferson took her hand and gave it a light squeeze, hoping it would comfort her (and also make sure she didn't rip the kids head off.) Emma looked to her husband, grateful for his presence and sighed, searching for an idea.

Maxwell began tapping his fingers on the table impatiently, waiting for his princess to come up with an answer. "Am I gonna get a peanut butter and jelly or not?"

By some miracle Emma actually sparked a plan in her head and her face shot up, full of pleasure at her not so brilliant, but suitable enough idea. "Yes Max, I'll make sure of it."

Emma quickly turned and began searching through the cupboards as Jefferson followed behind, confusedly asking, "What are you going to do?"

As Emma shuffled through the many items crowding the cupboards and began pulling out various jars and kitchen tools she explained, "Well, one time, forever ago, I had no peanut butter and only peanuts in my apartment and for some reason I _really _wanted peanut butter but was too lazy to go to the store so I Googled how to make peanut butter and kinda remember how to do it… Granted, it probably won't turn out that great since we don't have anything besides a mallet to grind up the peanuts and have no time to roast the peanuts or cool them afterwards, but if we don't tell him then it's more than likely that he won't even notice."

Jefferson stepped back, quite shocked at his wife's random experience that suddenly came in handy. He watched her as she hastily ground up the peanuts and mixed them in a bowl with vegetable oil and a pinch of sugar. He gave no argument when she sent him commands to do other sandwich preparation tasks and within ten minutes they had what was hopefully, a decent PB&J sandwich. Emma hesitantly handed the plate to Maxwell and the couple watched intently as he took his first bite of it. It seemed to take him forever just to swallow the measly bite but as he finished, Emma asked warily, "So what do you think Max?..."

Maxwell stared off for a moment, considering his response, then shrugged and gave an expression that they read to mean 'not bad' and they both sighed in relief. One blow-up/tantrum from the little gremlin avoided; success!

Emma and Jefferson happily, and full of relief, made their way back to the kitchen and made their own respective lunches. After they finished eating Emma was fingering through some of the remnants of peanut butter left on the bowl she had used to mix it. She tasted the dollop that sat on her finger then looked off in thought, a sudden craving coming to mind. "You know what I think would taste really good with this peanut butter right now?"

"I honestly have no idea…" Jefferson replied back from his place at the sink, washing the dishes.

"Raisins!" Emma didn't really know why she wanted it but it just sounded so good right now she couldn't resist the idea.

"Really?..." Jefferson looked over to her questioningly. It didn't sound like the worst combination in the world but it was random, to say the least.

"Yeah," she smiled back. "I mean, I've never tried it before but I don't know… it just sounds good."

Jefferson merely laughed at his wife's random excitement over this odd mixture. She was always a surprise to him and he wondered greatly about how her mind worked. But seeing her smile like this, no matter how random the reason was for it, made him so happy so he didn't question it as he laughed. "You are a mystery to me princess."

He kissed her on the forehead as he turned to rinse off his plate and Emma smiled up at him. "But you love me for it."

"That I do princess; that I do."

For a few minutes there they had almost forgotten they were babysitting while Maxwell had taken to explaining his self-proclaimed fascinating life story to a few of the kitchen staff. The poor souls had no idea what they were getting into when they had merely asked the young royal how he was doing. After keeping a safe distance for a few minutes Emma and Jefferson approached the small group at the table, when Maxwell neared the end of his story.

Maxwell perked up at the sight of Emma and unconsciously allowed a wide grin to slip across his visage. The child's sudden beam of happiness caused Jefferson to poke Emma in the side mockingly and her to glare playfully up at him.

Emma would have gladly let Maxwell continue for as long as he desired but being the natural-born savior she was, she felt compelled to save the innocent employees from Maxwell's endless babbling. "Hey Max, why don't you finish up here and we can go explore the castle?"

The boy hastily replied and dismissed the staff with a quick 'goodbye'. The employees all breathed a collective sigh of relief and silently thanked their savior as she ushered Max into the hallway.

"So where do you wanna go Max?"

"Uuummm… OH! How about the council room? I wasn't allowed up there last time and I still really wanna see it!"

Jefferson scoffed and muttered under his breath, only loud enough for Emma to hear, "Didn't stop you from trying to sneak up there when you escaped…"

Emma shot him a look, though she knew he was right and her immediate thought was the very same. During Maxwell's last visit to their home he had been under the watchful eye of Granny when she turned her back on him playing with his toys for two seconds and he was gone. She was able to track him relatively easily by smell but because of her age she could not keep. She ran into Jefferson in the midst of her hunt, asked him to catch up to the boy for her, and being the polite, chivalrous man he is, he obliged without hesitation. Eventually he caught up to the little monster just before he reached the floor that housed the council room but being the only adult around Jefferson was forced to be the one to reprimand the young king. Jefferson had to march him back down to the ground floors while he threw a fit, henceforth beginning Maxwell's ill-will towards Jefferson.

Emma sighed heavily, recalling that night when Jefferson came to her announcing that the king of Vanguardia officially hated him. Of course this kid picked the one room in the castle that was off limits to basically anyone who wasn't in the council or a member of the royal family. She didn't want to take him up there but she knew she had to avoid any blow-ups from him and he seemed (at least slightly) better and less of a monster than the last time he had visited so she figured maybe, just maybe, it would be okay… "Alright Maxwell, we'll take you up there but _only _if you promise not to touch _anything_ or go anywhere in the room where I can't see you. And you _have _to listen to exactly as I tell you to do in there. If you don't listen then I'll drag you out of there quicker than you can even get a word of an argument out."

Realizing he probably wouldn't get a better deal than this Max reluctantly agreed and they began to ascend the many stairwells that led up to the top floors. For the first few flights Maxwell stayed relatively quiet but after the fifth set of stairs was reached he began a series of never-ending complaints about how tired he was, the crazy amount of stairs, and how it probably wasn't even worth this much effort. Emma was always quick to rebuttal and offer to forget about going up to the council room but Maxwell always immediately took back his complaint, only to start again mere seconds later.

Luckily once they reached the council room he shut up almost instantly and just stood in awe of the sight. Emma hesitantly let him search through the room but did not dare let him near her father's connecting office. After Maxwell was satisfied with his exploration of the room Emma and Jefferson led the boy to a few more areas he had suggested, of course continuing to complain as they descended many staircases and rounded through endless hallways. After a couple hours Jefferson took note of the time and reminded Emma they had to get Henry and Grace from school.

With this reminder came the realization that she was somehow going to have to convince Maxwell to come with them so she started simply, "Max, do you wanna go pick up Henry and Grace from school?"

Maxwell's face twisted, considering it. "Does that mean we have to walk?..."

"Well yes… we don't like to take the carriages out unless it's a long trip." Emma didn't know what she was going to do if this didn't work. She didn't have anyone to pick up Henry and Grace from school and was certainly not about to let Jefferson leave her alone with Max. "It's not too long of a walk."

"How long?"

"At most, twenty-five minutes."

"That's too long."

"What if I told you that we could go play soccer afterwards?" Please, please, PLEASE let this bribe work!

Maxwell considered that for a moment, looking off, than looked back to Emma curiously. "But I'll be tired from walking."

"We could rest in between." Dammit, the kid had a point.

"But that would be boring."

"Then what do _you _suggest we do?"

"Stay here."

"That wasn't an option." She had to admit, this kid was anything if not, persistent. Unfortunately, _this _was the Maxwell she remembered dealing with last time he was here.

"There weren't any other options you gave."

"True… but what would we do here?"

"Play, explore more,_ something_ fun!"

"But won't that make you just as tired as going to pick up Henry and Grace then playing soccer?"

"Maybe… but it will be more fun."

"We can make the walk fun."

"How?..."

"Doesn't matter to me; what do you suggest?"

Maxwell thought for a moment, wanting to get something good out of this. A brilliant idea popped into his head and he looked back to her shyly, almost too embarrassed to suggest it. Almost. "Well…. you _could _let me hold your hand when we walk?"

Emma gave him a quick sneer before realizing that it was a small sacrifice if it got him to go with them and stop complaining. She sighed and stuck out her hand, "Fine…"

Max reached out for her hand with a wide grin but she pulled it back before continuing, "But, there's one condition…"

Max pouted and let his hand fall down to his side, waiting for the condition that he most likely would not appreciate.

"You can hold my hand _only _if you promise not to complain, or whine, or argue, for the rest of the day!"

Max considered this… It wasn't a horrible condition. If it meant he could hold Emma's hand it would probably be worth it, but… "As long as you let me hold your hand on the way back too!"

Emma huffed out a groan but agreed and stuck her hand back out, proclaiming, "It's a deal."

Maxwell let a large smile slip across his face as Emma led him down to the ground floor and out the castle doors with Jefferson following just to the other side of Emma, nearly ready to burst out in laughter at the twisted mix of embarrassment, flattery, and resentment on Emma's face.

Much to Emma's surprise, Maxwell, for the most part, kept his promise and the few times he did start to make a comment about being fatigued she gave him a simple reminder and he looked away, wallowing in self-pity. Luckily, the time passed rather quickly once Jefferson took hold of Emma's other hand and began making small talk while tracing circles on the back of her hand. Finally, they reached the school and found Henry and Grace chatting amongst a few of their friends. Once the siblings caught sight of their parents they quickly wished their friends goodbye and ran towards them, smiling brightly.

As she let go of her husband's and hugged her children Emma could see them both give odd, confused glances to her holding King Maxwell's hand. She gave them a knowing look, informing them she would explain later. After greeting their parents the two children turned their attentions fully towards the young boy beside their mother and smiled.

"Hi Maxwell!" Grace greeted, waving to the young boy standing beside her mother.

"Hello." Max answered, holding his chin up and trying to look and sound royal.

Grace rolled her eyes at the boy's pointless attempt to seem dignified as her brother greeted the young king.

After the mandatory greetings were made Emma explained to Henry and Grace her promise to Maxwell and they gladly offered to participate. It didn't take long for them to reach the soccer field that lay just past the garden on the land-adjacent edge of their castle's bridge which wasn't surprising, considering the kids practically ran there.

After they got to the field the dilemma of who would be on which team arose. Since there was an odd amount they decided it would only be fair if someone opted out of playing. Jefferson made the sacrifice and offered to be the referee, while the kids decided the teams would be boys against girls. They all played a fierce game, as best as they could, though Henry stood out by far, mostly due to him being the player with the most experience. Though Grace did not enjoy playing in a skirt and neither her nor her mother's boots were well-suited for soccer they didn't complain, silently noting their discomforts as their rightful disadvantage, since they had the older average of the two teams.

Emma and Grace made sure to establish quickly that they needed to hold back so as to not set off Maxwell by the girls winning. They were quite sure Henry realized this but, for obvious reasons, he didn't seem to mind all that much. After a half hour or so of running up and down the field, Emma was growing tired, and slightly dizzy, so she decided to call it quits. She told the kids they could keep playing and just have Jefferson sub for her but they didn't mind a break, considering they'd all had a pretty long day. Jefferson also refused to let Emma be without him when she wasn't feeling well so the break was basically a must, unless they wanted to play an entirely unfair game.

As they began to sit throughout the middle of the field, Grace asked her mother to do her hair for her and Emma happily obliged. Grace then settled herself in front of where her father held her mother in his lap, running his fingers through the ends of her hair. As Emma began to waterfall braid Grace's hair, Henry and Maxwell settled themselves to sit a few feet from one another in respective criss-crossed leg positions, not far from the rest of their group.

Henry sat back on his hands, catching his breath while Maxwell looked down at the grass, plucking individual blades from the ground. Maxwell decided to be the conversation starter and recalled what he knew he wanted to ask Henry about. "Hey Henry; so I heard you guys got to see Wonderland? What was it like there?"

Henry took in a breath and smiled, happy to talk about one of his best trips _ever_! "It was _so_ cool! We got to see so many different creatures and met a bunch of new friends and it was awesome. It wasn't like anything you've ever seen!"

"Cool! Did you speak with any talking flowers?" Max questioned excitedly, eager to learn about his friend's adventures. His favorite thing to do was go on adventures. Granted, the only adventures he'd ever been allowed to go on were in his own kingdom or occasionally at neighboring palaces, but they were still adventures to him.

"No… we didn't really see any."

"Oh, well did you get to meet Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum? I heard they are so dumb it's hilarious."

"Didn't come across them…"

"How about a dodo bird?"

"Didn't see one of those…"

"What about one of the giant card army men?"

"Nope." Geez, Henry had never realized how much more there was to Wonderland that they didn't get to see or experience.

"Did you at least get to see the Queen of Hearts?"

"No, we did our best to avoid her!" Henry assured, his smile shrinking ever so slightly at the mention of the cruel queen.

"You know, in _my _kingdom I don't have to fear _anything_," Maxwell stated matter-of-factly, glad to turn the conversation on himself. The tale of this adventure was starting to bore him, it didn't seem like all that great of one.

"Well, you are brave and the creatures respect that I'm sure."

"Yes, I am. _That's _why my parents made me king."

"That's what I've heard." Henry wanted so badly to roll his eyes at the slightly pompous young boy, but out of courtesy he used all of his strength to resist.

They sat in silence for a moment till Maxwell perked up again, ready with another conversation topic. "Oh Henry, whatchya doing for your birthday? It's next week, isn't it?"

"You know, I'm not sure…" Henry looked up, considering what he might do to celebrate. "I hadn't really thought about it."

"You should do something _big_! Like have a huge party; or ask for a really big present."

"I don't know. It's only eight days away so I don't think we can really plan something _that_ big."

"I'll think about it and let you know when I figure it out."

"You better." Maxwell was hoping that whatever Henry might come up he could be included in it. Anything lavish or expensive basically required King Maxwell's presence.

At this point Emma had finished Grace's braid and her dizziness had, mostly, ceased so she gave the kids the option of heading back to the castle or finding another game to play for a short while. The kids decided to play tag but the game basically ended in a failure, after twenty minutes or so, when it was decided that Jefferson was base and everyone ended up dog-piling him.

They all laughed hysterically as he struggled to get free and were eventually kind enough to let him break through the stack of bodies. As enjoyable as it all was it was getting close to sunset and Emma had high hopes that her parents' luncheon was well over by now. They gathered themselves, Maxwell quickly ran to grasp Emma's hand, Jefferson laced his fingers through her free hand, and they began making their way back to the castle.

As the family and their guest walked across the bridge back to their palace Henry interrupted the silence, taking the quiet moment as a good opportunity to suggest an idea that had been stirring in his mind since his conversation with Maxwell, "Hey mom, papa; so I was talking with Maxwell earlier about what I wanted to do for my birthday and I kind of had an idea…"

"Sure Henry, what is it? We've been telling you we're entirely open to suggestions." Emma smiled down at her son, eager to hear what his idea was. They had been asking him for months what he wanted to do but, like herself, he had a bit of trouble making decisions, no matter how trivial.

"Well…" Oh goodness, where was this going? Emma knew whenever one of her children started an idea off with a dragged out 'well' it was something she would likely be wary of. "I was thinking that we could go back to Wonderland… but we could _all _go this time."

As much as she didn't like this subject being brought up again it wasn't an entirely horrible idea and she understood what was, likely, his reasoning. She looked up to her husband, searching for his reaction. She saw in Jefferson's eyes that he was extremely hesitant but in an attempt to please his son, he merely shrugged, masking his wariness. Emma gave his hand a squeeze of comfort and thanks, beyond happy to have a husband that longed so much to please a son who wasn't even his by blood and had only truly been his for a just over a year. She was glad she was able to give back a response that would hopefully please her son. "Yeah, I guess that could be a possibility."

Henry beamed up to his mother in silent thanks then looked towards his also smiling sister. They both beamed at the thought of the family all getting to travel and experience Wonderland together.

"Oooh, could I come?" Maxwell perked up and almost jumped with excitement at the thought, interrupting the family moment.

Emma should have seen this one coming, this wasn't the first time he'd asked to travel with her family. Maxwell wanted his part in everything he heard about it; she should have watched her words more carefully around him. "Well Maxwell, for one, we didn't even say yes yet and two, the last time you asked us your parents were very clear that they did not want you jumping through any portals to other worlds."

"But I've been to other worlds before!" Maxwell stuck out his chin defiantly and proud.

Jefferson rolled his eyes and countered, for his wife, "You've been to _two _other worlds Maxwell; one, not by choice, and the other technically doesn't even count since there is no portal required to reach it, it presses up so closely to this one that it might as well be considered a part of it."

"But I _know _you can still get to it through your hat," Maxwell snapped back, hoping his argument might just work.

"That doesn't mean your parents want you using that as your means of getting there, or anywhere else."

"But I-" Maxwell barked out, about to continue until Emma butted in, trying to ease a bit of the tension.

"Max, all Jefferson is saying is that we would like to respect your parents' wishes. We're just looking out for your safety."

Maxwell was certainly not giving up on this but he pouted and looked off angrily, planning to discuss this with his parents later on.

Both Emma and Jefferson looked to one another, both stifling laughs as they continued their path back to the castle. Much to their delight, once inside and after heading towards the dining room they found Gwen and William awaiting them in the hall. Maxwell reluctantly let Emma's hand go free, determined to start working on his parents' reluctance to let him travel through portals. Emma noticed the smiles that crept onto her children's faces as they noticed their guests whom they were actually glad to see.

Emma ushered them off, stating, "Go ahead, go say hi."

Henry and Grace ran off with bright smiles as they went to greet their guests they had yet to see.

Jefferson smiled towards his children before turning back to his wife and looping an arm around her waist, glad to have even just a moment alone with her without having to worry about their children or the boy-king disturbing them. "So, was today as bad as you thought it would be?"

"You knew he'd gotten better," Emma smirked up at him, intentionally not answering his question.

"Maybe… but even so he's no Grace or Henry. And you were still wonderful with him when he was acting less than desirable."

"I _dealt _with him, there's a difference."

"You were _great _with him and you know it."

"I just did what I'd do with any other kid and tried to get him to listen or behave, or shut up, when he wouldn't."

"And you succeeded."

"I'm sure it didn't hurt that he has a crush on me," Emma reluctantly countered with a roll of her eyes.

"I'll give you that," Jefferson laughed. "But even in moments when he wasn't smitten with you, you handled him like a pro."

"Pure luck," Emma shrugged, dismissing any thought that she might actually have a natural gift with children.

"More than luck; you're a natural." He truly did admire her natural way with kids. He had honestly never seen someone who worked so well with even the worst of kids yet had so little experience of raising their own.

"Believe what you want."

"Can't you give yourself credit for _anything_?" Jefferson eyes pleaded with her. He truly wished she could have just the slightest bit more confidence in the fact that was she basically an angel sent from above who was blessed with the ability to do anything she set her mind to.

"Yes," Emma stated matter-of-factly looking at him from under her brow, "but only when it is deserved."

"It is _more_ than deserved."

"Really?..." Emma didn't necessarily consider it to be true, but she saw his belief in the truth of his words. He meant them wholeheartedly.

"You know I would _never _lie to you princess." Jefferson cupped her cheek and looked her in the eye, seriously.

"I know… but sometimes you are a bit," she paused to search for the right word, "over-complimentary."

"You're the only one who thinks that."

Emma pulled her face back in thought, pursing her lips and squinting her eyes. Sadly, he was right, and she had never heard anyone ever state the same claim so she looked back to him and sighed.

He could tell the sigh meant she had no argument and smiled, nearly satisfied. He cupped her chin then pulled her face up to meet his as he pleaded, "Please, just take the compliment."

He planted a gentle kiss on her lips and she pulled back with a growing smile. "Fine… thank you."

"You are _more _than welcome love."

Emma smiled back to her husband, grateful to have him there. He treated her far better than she deserved and she truly could not understand why. As she took his hand and began walking towards their kids in front of the dining room she leaned her head onto his shoulder while thanking her lucky stars that it turned to be not such a bad day after all.

* * *

_I hope you all enjoyed it and don't think waiting so long for this was just a waste of your time… but if you did, I wouldn't blame you. =[ But hey, good news! :D Even though it won't really matter for a LONG time, when this fic ends I already have a flurry of ideas lined up for a companion fic that is going to fill in some of the spaces between this story's last chapter and it's epilogue! Yeah I know, there I go again, thinking WAAAAYYYYY ahead, but for some reason I just can't help it and I keep coming up with these ideas that won't fit in my story for quite a while, so yeah… As I said, I hope you don't hate me entirely for taking so long to update and you thought this chapter was a good one! I love you all so mucho and I can't thank you enough for your support; you're all amazing beyond belief!_


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